Problem is that most people will never be able to achieve this - the average down payment for first home buyers is less than 10%.
Truly hate to say it but people will need to get used to buying homes much later in life.
- the Singapore model, rent-to-own via the government
- the Japanese model, housing is a depreciating asset
- the Vienna model, ubiquitous social housing up to mid-tier of the market
Personally I feel like renting or owning a house should be a choice of features, not of financial benefit. Buying a house should be about being able to make it your own (moving walls, redoing the garden, building a shed). On a 5, 15, 30, 60 year timeline, owning and renting a house should come out to the same financial net outcome.
The way to get there is murky to me. I have far too little understanding of the deeper effects government policies have on the real estate market to make even the roughest guess.
Here in Houston, a city with a medium cost-of-living, the cheapest house that you can get that's in livable condition and isn't outrageously far from where the jobs are is something like $300k. 20% of that is $60k.
For us techies or others with a Well-Paying Job™, saving $60k is not a big deal.
For pretty much everyone else, saving $60k is a huge feat, even after removing all unnecessary expenses. (Why should "they" have to ride the struggle bus when we techies can blow $18 on lattes and avo toast or whatever's hype these days while still hitting these savings goals?)
And when they finally do that 15 years later or whatever, they're competing against the Well-Paying Job™ folks who are rolling equity from the sale of their starter home and putting down all-cash offers.
By saying "people will need to get used to buying homes much later in life," what you're essentially proposing is class-redlining the poors (many of whom come from families that were historically-discriminated against home ownership, either directly or indirectly) out of home ownership. I'm going to assume that this isn't what you intended by writing that, but that's how it comes off.
Can you define what techies should be able to buy compared to “them”?
Perhaps at todays rate, but this is not always the case and depends on the relative rates.
We did the opposite, Maxed out our loan and kept cash on hand.
I bought right before the interest rate shot back up with a ~5% down payment, and the past few years of ownership have improved my mental state substantially. You don’t know how much stress is caused by having that potential rent hike (and associated potential apartment hunt and move required to keep housing costs within reason) that comes with lease renewal looming on the horizon until it’s not there anymore.
Additionally having an emergency fund afterwards is super important.
Finally since prepayment penalties aren't a thing the difference between paying extra principal early on and a bigger down payment is mostly PMI. (And the interest on the payments until you make them)
At some point, we’re just describing a landed aristocracy alongside a rent to own scheme.
This just makes renting seem like a better option. If I won’t pay off my home until I’m dead what’s the point?