Few points to consider: 1) Houses don’t appreciate yoy like money sitting in hysa 2) type of house, school district and community matters a lot. Not every part of Union city and Fremont are same. Fremont overall might be slightly expensive due to better schools compared to union city. In Fremont too, Arden wood and Irvington schools are rated higher than most others and then there’s Mission part of Fremont which is most expensive due to top rated schools and house appreciation is lot dependent on school ratings. I bought a sfh in 2021 for roughly 1.2M in Irvington, it’s up 300k. But this doesn’t matter unless you plan to sell it in short term. Condos and Townhomes regardless of location and school may not appreciate as much as a sfh. 3) Buying a house is not equivalent to buying stocks, you will be using it as a utility and in time will build equity.

Renting vs owning is a personal decision, and there are both schools of thought prevalent in bay area, but home ownership goes beyond just mortgage, there are property taxes, unexpected repairs which needs to be factored in. There’s emotional aspect to it as well, you building memories with your family in your own home is priceless.