Yes.  It is.  Without a doubt.

But here's the thing:  if you don't have cash to buy a house, there is no alternative.  The historic average rate of appreciation on real estate in the Bay Area is 5.5% annually (compounded, mind you).  That means a home that cost $500,000 in 2000 is now worth over $1.7m.  So imagining you are saving for a $1m home, it is going up about $55,000 annually.  Most people can't save that much and for those pursing the no loan home purchase, they fall behind rather quickly.

This situation is unlikely to change as we are about 3 million homes short of what we need in California.  We would have to build over 584,000 homes per year for five years to clear that backlog.  Our construction is nowhere near that and likely will never be.  We usually build about 80,000 homes per year.  And that does not even cover the annual demand of 180,000 homes we need each year - we just keep falling further and further behind.