It's fine to expect some people to buy a house with cash. I don't think that precludes saving for many years to do so (meaning the median income doesn't need to be $1M/yr).
- taxes (1M is close to 500K after taxes)
- money that you need to cut out and put into retirement to sustain yourself from age 65-100
- living expenses and rent until you buy
- real estate prices rising the whole time
Which will of course be stratospheric in a world where median labor costs $500 per hour.
Fortunately my life expectancy has dropped in the past few years!
> Unfortunately housing prices are rising so fast that saving for years doesn't necessarily get you there
> 1M is close to 500K after taxes
If you make $1M on your own the rates are even higher.
(That's not including the 10% sales tax you pay on almost everything you buy with the money you have left, property taxes on property you thought you owned, property taxes landlords financially pass onto you as a renter, etc.)