FSD, that’s probably true. There is no easy way to measure. The only stat I can offer is the negative national savings rate.

I can offer an anecdote from circa Spring 2005 though. My wife and I had been in San Diego for six months at that point and my in-laws, who own a small, old, tract house in Diamond Bar were visiting SD for the weekend and stayed in our apartment. We got into a discussion about RE prices in SoCal and I had stated that I had about $50K saved at that point and my SIL’s immediate reaction was that that was “nothing” in terms of a downpayment. Now keep in mind that my wife and I have combined income that is almost double what theirs was / is. Well of course she was comparing the 50K to a moveup buyer in SoCal who might several hundred thousand as result of swapping out their already inflated bubble house for another. It was ironic hearing that from them because they near -0- liquid net worth. It’s all in the house. Now mind you they are not FBs. They bought their house in 2001 at what would be considered a reasonable price (not by me, but I’m from the MidWest so I expect to get value for my $).