When houses start at over 1 million even the bottom of the 1% can have trouble buying. Houses are going up 24% year over year which is much higher then you can save money. Condo prices prices are not going up as quickly so they don't work as a good stepping stone. Out in the burbs if you want to be near transit will still be 600-800 for something livable, actually there doesn't seem to be a difference in price between a tear down and something you could live in. Might be a bit bias as I was out looking at houses on the weekend.