How many people have starting salaries these days that are 50% of a typical suburban home in an area they can find work in?
Outside of major areas like NYC, SF and LA, a professional starting at $45k and buying a starter house for $100k is doable.
Your example is anecdotal, here's mine. I know several people who were making $40-50k in professional like sales or engineering after just a few years of college and bought wonderful little starter houses in the $60 - $100k range. This is Rochester NY which has a cost of living score of about 82 out of 100 in the US. (LA is a 166, Austin, 117, Philly, 99, Chicago, 110.)
You have three problems... over consolidation of industry, over consolidation of capital and inflationary pressure via easy credit.
Bay Area real estate is a shitshow in many perspectives. The root problem is that the money people are all there, and would rather not travel. It’s dumb for all stakeholders, corporate, capital and working that such an important and large component of the US economy is dependent on the Bay Area. It’s doubly stupid as the whole region could be leveled by an earthquake at any time.
I’ve worked on projects where significant numbers of people contributing to the project have been on other continent. It defies all reason that we don’t have the ability to finance business in Omaha, Buffalo, or Nashville.
Student loans are probably more of an issue then housing prices for new graduates in lower cost of living areas.