I wish I could own a home, that I put equity into, and have a reasonable assurance of getting that equity back out, without having it be a highly speculative, l

I wish I could own a home, that I put equity into, and have a reasonable assurance of getting that equity back out, without having it be a highly speculative, leveraged investment. Alternatively, I wish renting was affordable in any place worth living. Instead I'm all in on another home purchase right now, which if the market doesn't totally tank I should be able to turn into a 300% ROI in the next few years. That's great if it all works out, but I'm comfortably upper-middle class in a desirable area, what the hell is everyone else supposed to do?