That can be true - it often is not the case. Demand and supply are issues. I sold R.E. when I was in college and afterward for a while in the D.C. area. Most people choose to live at the extreme edge if their means. When their situation changes they are locked in because they were already at a limit, assuming they would always earn more and more and sooner or later get caught up or have more of a cushion to protect them.
Young people starting out wanted the most they could afford to impress themselves and their families and friends. The FHA even had (possibly still do) a loan program that escalated payments every year for 6 years. This allowed people to buy more than the qualified for based on payment as a percentage of income. In loan qualification one only needs to be qualified for one year. The first year of this loan the homebuyer owes more at the end of the first year than he borrowed. This trend continues until year three when the payment of principle and interest grows to where the balance is declining. Keep in mind property taxes often rise annually as sales prices drive up assessments. In Montgomery County Maryland, one of the richest in the nation taxes were for many years reassessed every six months to reflect rising values. They no longer do that, but it is a rising cost people lose sight of. The D.C. area was a hot market that was considered bullet proof in real estate. More and more people moved there to work for government or government related companies and a large number of major colleges and universities are in the area. People come to go to school and stay. Amazingly God stopped making more land for these people to live so scarcity drive prices upward.
In my now 'golden' years I live in a rural area that has been decimated economically for a couple generations. Housing here is mixed, but a lot of it is cheap. While an average home in town sells for about 125,000., you can get homes, livable homes for as little as 34,000 in some areas. The highest price here is a home on sale for 775,000 in a nice, older neighborhood. It is huge, a Tudor style home with slate roof, grand foyers and woodwork. In Montgomery county Md., the price would be just a bit above the median price, which is around 550,000. It all depends on where you need to live and how you want to live.
A number of my friends have high paying jobs with the railroad. A number of them bought lower cost homes than their salary qualified them for and they live below their means, investing well and building a nice portfolio - but these folks are rare. A lot of people when they begin earning feel that going all out is something they are entitled to do, and that it will all work out in the end.
You are absolutely right you can have home ownership without having to make a huge investment. More people need to realize it when they are in an area where they are comfortable and safe in doing so. For some segments it is very hard to do.