> Now I’m in my 30s and I have no idea when I’ll buy a house, if ever.

This might not be what you want to do, or hear; I know it wasn't what I wanted in my late 20s. But you could own a house within a year or so if you decide you want a house more than living in an expensive area.

I spent my 20s banging my head against an impossibly expensive area trying to find something and perpetually failing (in my case, NYC). In my late 20s I gave up, moved to a very suburban (borderline rural) area and bought a house right away.