My parents bought their first house immediately after marriage -- they were about 22. Sure, they had a stool (I think it was just an apple crate actually) and a table in the living room, and not much else... but my Dad worked, and my Mom raised the kids as soon as they were born, quitting her job as a bank teller, so mostly single income. There was no generous dowry or gift from parents or relatives to purchase it.
This was in the late 1950s, mind you. But it shows how much buying power the middle class has truly lost since then.
There was a time when owning a home didn't require one to be 'rich'. Today's situation in supposedly 'rich' nations is a travesty.