> I could make a 5% downpayment and have a mortgage till the day I die, but that doesn't seem reasonable to me.
Right, but if the only price increase was attributable to the lower price of money, you'd have a mortgage just as long and with just as much burden now as before the decrease in the price of money -- you'd just pay a higher nominal purchase price on the house, and lower interest and fees associated with the loan.
If, instead, you've been priced out of the market, that means something other than a general decrease in the price of money is involved, because the increase in the prices is out of line with the decrease in the price you would pay for financing. If it is cheaper money driving the price, its money that has gotten cheaper for some other class of potential buyers than it has for you.