By my math this puts your "house cash" at around $600k[0]; the vast majority of your generation (and, for that matter, the vast majority of all Americans) do not have that kind of money to invest; their "house cash" is maybe enough for a 10% down payment on a house in the exurbs or a 1 bedroom condo. That said, I wish more people in your position would rent -- far too many would view $600k as an opportunity to buy multiple "cheap" properties as rentals.
[0]: $2600 per month is $31200 per year; to earn $31200 per year with an effective interest rate of ~5.17%[1] would require a principal of 31200/0.0517 ~= $603k. [1]: https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/bond/tmubmusd01y?count...
Right, so the average person will pay an even more insane mortgage, making renting an even better deal for them.
I keep thinking this, too. But my neighbors home just sold for $894/square foot and the first 3 offers they accepted were all $80k to $100k over their asking price which was already fucking insane to me (and I own the same model on a "better" lot but they put in ~$40k in renovation before listing -- forget whether or not I could even afford to buy my own home if I tried to buy it today, I straight up wouldn't even bother. It has literally not been worth the sticker price for close to 2 years now). They had 8 offers the weekend they listed, the first 3 they accepted fell through because those buyers were accepted on other homes they liked more. The offer that went through was $50k over asking. The new owners put 20% down and mortgaged the other 80%. It's an absolutely staggering monthly payment -- effectively the same house on effectively the same lot but they're paying nearly 4x what we are monthly on housing.
There was an article today about our local housing market [0]. I cannot wrap my head around who the fuck is buying these homes and where the hell they're getting their money from. I've thought for years now that we were reaching the top of this market but here we are. It's a very, very hot market where I am, which was also true when we bought here back in 2015/2016, but now the prices have more-than doubled.
[0]: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/it-takes-349-200-...
It's not that Gen Z abandoned SFH living. A better way to say it is that 20-somethings tend to live in dense apartments in areas which have activities for 20-somethings (bars, parties, concerts, etc).
That's likely been true for 20-somethings for a very long time. Human nature.
Then, 30-to-40-somethings settle down and move to quieter places with more space and more suitable for having their own kids. I'm pretty sure when Gen Z gets to that age range, they'll do the same.
A couple things I like to mention:
I rent. Right now my house cash makes $2,600 after taxes by putting it in T-Bills. This effectively drops my rent to $1,300/mo vs buying and spending $3k/mo for mortgage, taxes, insurance, HOAs and maintenance. I'm happy to rent for now, especially as it seems houses have little room to appreciate further.
I think gen Z abandons SFH for lifestyle reasons. Kids are having less children and don't want the maintenance and responsibility of a SFH.