Personally, IMO, I think $1000 to $1600 for an upper and $1600 to $2400 for complete is fine Canadian pricing for quality AR (not a Norc, that is Cheap). I do think that the pricing of $2300 for an upper (Questar, sponsor link) and $1860 for an upper (again, sponsor link) is when, IMO, the line of "expensive" is crossed.
Well, that's like, your opinion, man.