Start with the honest part: owning a home matters less than your wellbeing, and if the saving grind is wearing you down, your life comes first. On the economics, the country has run a persistent housing shortage since homebuilding collapsed after the 2008 financial crisis and never fully caught up with population and household growth. Years of fewer homes than buyers puts steady upward pressure on prices, and ordinary inflation sits on top of that. In dollar terms, home prices are likely to keep rising for the foreseeable future, which is part of why saving can feel like chasing a target that keeps moving. Two things are worth separating: - Nominal growth (the sticker number going up) is close to baked in by supply and inflation. - Real growth (after inflation, measured against wages) is a separate and far less certain question, and it does not climb forever in a straight line. Practically, that argues against trying to out-save a moving target with cash alone. Understanding your actual qualification range, and the loan structures that could get you in sooner, often matters more than the size of your down payment. If you want to see where you genuinely stand, a free Roadmap conversation (about 20 minutes) where we run your real numbers is a low-pressure place to start.