As long as you don't put more than ~30% of your money into a single asset (e.g. a house), then you're pretty certain to always make money in the long-term.
That wasn't what I was referring to. Net worth is (assets - debts), so the money for a down payment is largely the only part of a house that contributes to net worth at purchase time.
In other words, your down payment should be less than 30% of your net worth. Still hard to do in many places.
Everyone I know who "owns" a home first had to save up for a 3-20% down payment, which translates to having 500-3,300% of their money in the asset.
Biggest outlier I know personally put 50% down, so 200%.
Obviously I know that cash buyers exist too but that's not most people, unless I'm woefully wrong.