While yes your money is being eaten by inflation when sitting in the bank, if you’re seriously considering purchasing a house that is the correct place to put your money while continuing to build a deposit but you have to commit to an actual plan.

We'll most likely need this money in the next year or two, so you might be right there.

IMO I don’t think you are psychologically prepared to invest (which is probably the biggest factor).

I'd say it's more about poor understanding of how investments work than anything else. I've seen multiple people I know lose a lot of money for the simple reason of having no clue what they're doing. Hence my apprehension.

Ironically buying a house is also investing but you’ve somehow created a divide in your mind on those two things which makes me think your risk tolerance is low (that’s ok).

I wish something as basic as housing wasn't used for profit. It's either we're stuck paying more for rent than what our monthly mortgage rate would be and have an unstable housing situation (especially with dogs in the equation) or we commit to paying off a 30-35 years of mortgage.