Contendo ergo sum.
Sorry JT and Lannocks, but I totally disagree.
The overall amount of savings is far less important than who pays.
If you move into a new building with new carpet in the foyer and the carpet is expected to last 15 years, the rightful contributors to the cost of the eventual new carpet are those who walk on it during those 15 years.
Not the Owners who happen to be in residence at the 15-year mark, nor their heirs and successors.
Also, Mr Morton’s calculations could just as easily be applied to the purchase of a new car by a teenager. His spreadsheet would advise you to not to save up and then purchase it. His spreadsheet would look at the lost “opportunity cost” of paying tax on your savings, the inflation rate applicable to new cars, the cost of bus/train tickets to get to work in the meantime, and then advise you to get the car on hire purchase now.
Ain’t that what’s wrong with the economy?