I worked my ass off for a decade in one of the highest earning careers available just to be able to barely afford more or less the same house as my grandparents, who worked odd jobs and were able to build it themselves while raising a family. Mediocrity is the new success, and misery is what's left for the rest.

Yeah this article has a very "blame the user" attitude because it labels a supply side issue as a demand side collective action problem.

"Just buy less house" sounds very avocado toasty. Anyways, the actual way many people are "escaping the trap" is by not having children and not buying homes. Or at least delaying doing those things.

If anything, the collective action problem is political. But it's very systemic. Simply voting for a good representative isn't enough unless those representatives push for systemic change (and the right kind at that).

I'm sorry, but I am having a hard time buying this as-written.

"One ofthe highest earning careers available" would suggest a job that paid you at least $200k over median; median is livable so you could have been saving at least $200k/year. You'd have had $2M after 10 years as a downpayment, which would easily cover anything a pair of "odd-job" self-builders had 2 generations ago.

What am I missing/getting wrong?

Your grandparents probably worked their asses off too.

idem. Except they also ended up owning a good amount of farmland to garden and a bit of forest and a smaller vacation home later on. As western european factory workers.

They marvel at the fact I have an office job and insist that I must dress very properly. I think one should question that and why their job (which they were proud of) no longer exists here and the ones that do exist don't employ locals. The result is that many of my generation are competing for those "prestigious" "high earning" carreers.