It has been rough watching our friends become steadily more financially literate and start seriously looking at the housing market for the first time, run the math and realize there is basically no path ever to homeownership for them. 3 of the 4 couples in our friends group own houses, we’re all 29~35ish, all dual income, no kids. We’re not even in an especially high COL area.

It was only possible for us because my mother died quite young and since she was divorced from my father, her assets were liquidated and a trust was made for my brothers and me. That covered about 40% of the downpayment I needed, the rest was half what we were able to save on my our and half contributions from my father.

2nd couple, don’t come from money, got a good deal on a very-old-and-in-rough-shape house in a not-so-desirable area. They’ve done some work but there’s only so much you can do when both people work all the time.

3rd couple easily make the most of all of us combined. Their townhouse is very nice but I’m fairly certain they had some family money to help them too.

4th couple both work decent jobs ($20~25/hr, occasional overtime) but with no family support and rent being as high as it is, there isn’t any kind of time horizon where they can put enough money away to make a 20% downpayment on even the cheapest apartment in the city.

There really isn’t any other way anymore… I don’t think Gen X and boomers fully appreciate just how different this is from when they were in their 20s & 30s. My parents were buying their second house by the time they were my age, in a nice part of a very desirable Southern CA city.

It is depressing, everywhere in the world. I work full-time in the tech industry in a capital city and earn about 100k AUD, with about $60k in savings. Not only can I not borrow enough to buy a home in the city, I also can't get a rental because in a city of 2 million, there are only 1000 rental properties on the market, and their prices have increased by 80% in the last 5 years.

I currently live in my car. Its not too bad. Im saving a tremendous amount of money not paying rent or mortgage. Im comitted to never renting again even if one becomes available to me, and I wont buy in the city, my 2-year plan is to move to a very small regional town, purchasing a block of land with a crappy house on it with a 50% deposit and transition to working remotely while I renovate it and raise some chickens, a veggie garden, maybe a pig too.

I have no family money to help me, every dollar I've ever had is one I earned myself. Eventually, ill inherit two houses assuming my divorced parents don't cock something up with them, but that wont be til im already approaching retirement age.