I mean - I could afford a home now, it’s just stupid expensive and I’d be leveraged up to my eyeballs. You do usually need to have the deposit in on-hand cash (though if you’re sneaky and an utter idiot you could probably find some way to borrow for the down payment).
I understand where you’re coming from but it’s accurate language to use because a lot of people technically could afford to buy homes right now they just know it’s dumb and realize the market is about to collapse and they’d end up underwater on like an 8% mortgage.