this is true. Being 39 I realized I still can't pay down that down payment because I don't have a vast amount of money I was able to save up, being in a HCOL area, and even if I do get a loan, I won't be able to pay it off before I retire (If I live long enough). And every time I save another chunk, the cost goes up so much more that the chunk I saved may as well have been zero, so I need to use that money to live by this point. Not to mention that mortgage gets more and more unaffordable.

It is a horrible spiral, and I have no idea what I can do about it, other than get richer parents.