
At what Age will/did you buy your first house and why?

Don't buy a house untill u gonna live in that or rental yield + appreciation is beating inflation means 7%
Once u decide to settle in a city, only then invest in a flat.
Work for initial 2 decades and u can buy 4 flats at 40...if u buy a flat at 22 then work for HDFC for next 20y.
Sit on cash not liability

Average rental yield in bangalore is 2-3% so with appreciation you can easily beat inflation.
After home loan interest though, you would still effectively make 6-7% per year on it.
I think your first house should be an investment to park your capital in a safer asset and make passive income. Sell the asset later to buy a house to live in.
But yes, provided you have a decent capital to pay at least 20% down payment.

Take into account maintenance, renovation costs and there will be months when your house will be vacant. Not even accounting for dealing with tough tenants.
I don't think returns after adjustments are beating inflation.

At 21. I was getting a sweet deal, 6.5% rental yield on the house price, long term leasing agreement with a good company and market-rate increments in rent every few years.
I didn't have any capital of my own, bank loans were ultra cheap (6.4% wtf era) and it's in my favorite city.

There is nothing great in buying house. But buying without a loan is special

The poll should’ve been split between “will” and “did”. One “will” want to buy early but “did” few years late/early. Hard to derive a conclusion here.