12GiB VRAM cards are common places nowadays. A RTX3060 is around ~450$ and available to everyone.
Most people I know don't have a desktop in the first place, and on average I wouldn't guess that desktop users build a new one more often than once every ~4 years. And that's among people who build their own; if you buy pre-built, you have to spend a lot extra to get those top of the line specs.
It's possible to now go out and buy this on a whim if you have a tech job or equivalent salary, though.
In the price range it is the only Nvidia card with 12GiB and the 3080 starts at 10GiB.
So you can certainly get a 12GiB card without spending 3080+ money, but if you want any more power than a 3060 and keep the 12GiB then you would need to spring for a 3080 12GiB which is a big jump in price.