Don't fall in to the trap thinking that buying a property is an asset. It's not, it's a liability. It rarely is an asset unless you, get on the ladder early, buy it dirt cheap or free, stay in it forever or buy a property to let. In simple terms, if you bought a house tomorrow it would not be giving you a return, in fact you would be paying out to keep it.
For example, let's say you buy a house for £100k and over 20 years it's worth £250k. So you have a £150k in the pot minus any interest on the mortgage. Over that 20 years you would of had to pay out council tax, electric bills, gas bills, water bills, repairs, a new kitchen, carpets, plumber, builders, new taps, soft furnishings and all the other crap that goes on top of owning a house. Then the cost of selling the property and after all that, chances are, you won't be left with much. I've just added up very roughly what my council tax, water, electric and gas bill would be after 20 years and it's around £85k. Makes you think right.
It's still worth getting on the property ladder as early as possible but don't look at it as an asset that's going to make you money. Not in the purest form anyway.
What? Why would you take your gas/water bill etc away from the profit of owning your own home?
I agree about a house being a liability these days, can house prices really keep increasing like they have? It's quite scary how much they're worth at the moment, they're already disproportionate in comparison to average incomes (in the South of England).