[throwaway-8c93]

I don't want to be the spoilsport, but yes, they very much can and it's not even that difficult.

Case in point: I moved to Finland as an immigrant 9 years ago, with nothing but a backpack, girlfriend and $12k in my bank account. Within 7 years, we paid down the mortgage for 100 m2 house in the capital area, while raising two children, with one above average and one below average income. And I don't feel like we were materially deprived in any way.

I think the main culprit is couples settling down way too late in their lives. Instead of settling down at the age of ~25 and combining two incomes to pay off the mortgage principle, we have two adults, each paying ~$700/month rents. When they finally move together at the age of ~30, that's almost $100k that went down the drain. The baby-boomer generation used to move together at even earlier ages, 19-22.

[Cthulhu_]

I was early 30's when I finally bought my house; for me, it was a combination of not feeling like settling in a house just yet (I switched jobs and cities a few times over the years), and once I was ready, I didn't just settle for the first thing that came up but I had some basic requirements (things like some outdoor space and a separate bedroom, I know, shocking). Then came the issue that housing prices went up faster than my income could keep up with. And of course I was single / single income; entering into a financial interdependency (my vocabulary is on fire today) is not the norm, and cynically speaking, most relationships end up in tears, sharing a mortgage in that case is even more sucky.

But anyway, the rent I spent on various 'student' housing over the years does add up to a quarter of the value of my current house. In retrospect, I should've bought a cheap apartment ten years ago.

[dagw]

Instead of settling down at the age of ~25 and combining two incomes to pay off the mortgage

The problem for young people wanting to but a house, at least in Sweden, isn't so much the monthly costs of paying the mortgage (which is often less than rent), but being able to put up the 15-20% 'cash' that the bank wants to see to even give you that mortgage.

[ChuckNorris89]

Yeah, but your example was valid 9 years ago and the market has changed since then.

I was asking about doing the same thing in the real estate market of today, not the one from 9 years ago.