That's not dying where I live, i actually don't know anyone who doesn't plan on living in a 2000+sqft house some day (I'm 24), and where I live the average price for a single family home is well over $400,000.
My best friend's plan (currently age 26 and barely able to make rent with 2 roommates in a bad part of town) is to buy a small hobby farm, build a huge house by hand, and still work full-time in the city. Even with the generous assumption that your definition of a reasonable commute is 60+ minutes each way with no traffic (so realistically much longer than 60 if he has to commute during rush hour), he'll need a $600,000+ mortgage just for the land. He's a high school dropout. A very smart and hardworking high school dropout! but i don't see him qualifying for that mortgage anytime soon...
My boyfriend, also age 26 and living with a roommate in the same neighborhood, has the same goddamn goal except he's fine with 1-2 acres. He insists on a huge house though. I'm gonna say $350,000 mortgage for the land itself if he buys an hour away from the edge of the suburbs, no idea how much homebuilding would add onto that but it must be at least $150,000 for a large house right?
My goal since age 15 has been to buy the cheapest 2bed condo I can find within bussing distance to downtown (2beds so that if I lose my job i can find a roommate to help cover the bills, I think that's a fair trade-off for the higher condo price). The cheapest condo outside of the "you'll get stabbed if you go out at night" neighborhoods is about $120,000 and it's actually the apartment I used to rent when I was in school, so I already know I'd enjoy living there. The problem is that the economy is so bad that the only job I've been able to find is a part-time job in the next city over (45+ minute drive each direction to make less than I'd make at a full-time minimum wage job) so it wouldn't make sense to buy right now....... and the other problem is that I've never dated or even been acquaintances with anyone who didn't hate apartments so I think it's time to admit to myself that I'm going to have to spend at least twice what I originally planned on spending on an entire home, to buy half of a home with a significant other.