The fundamental theme here is that over time psychology has shifted from payments-have-a-defined-end to payments-continue-forever.

Whether it's a car payment or a mortgage, people no longer seem to worry about having a defined end date where they are free of the shackles. As long as the payments can be made, keep on keeping on, forever if necessary. 

In the case of a car, keep on trading up and rolling in negative equity over a longer and longer period for the same dollar payment amount. Talk to dealers about total cost - you may as well have two heads. They always open with payment - these days often bi-weekly instead of the monthly number of old.

With Real Estate, people are unconcerned about bidding up the bottom line - no longer relevant, all they look at is the payment. Who cares that you overbid $200k on something that's fit to be torn down? If the payments can be made then it's all good.