Someone who bought their house in 2006 still has the same mortgage payment (actually, perhaps lower if they were able to refinance).
Buying things for the future (whether housing or cattle futures) does offer price stability and insulation from market fluctuations. It doesn't automatically make it a good investment; but stability is good, and it's perfectly rational to assign some positive value to it.
I was just trying to put things in perspective. There are perfectly rational reasons to buy a house. When the rents are higher than what a mortgage payment would be, it's a pretty reasonable thing to do for a lot of people, based on some pretty reasonable projections.
You can still disagree, of course. You can say that 1.5% growth per year in home value is too much to ask. You can say that rents will fall, therefore making your mortgage payment higher than rent. Or you can say that a 7% return is not good enough for you. Or maybe my analysis was wrong, in which case you can point that out.
Buying things for the future (whether housing or cattle futures) does offer price stability and insulation from market fluctuations. It doesn't automatically make it a good investment; but stability is good, and it's perfectly rational to assign some positive value to it.
I was just trying to put things in perspective. There are perfectly rational reasons to buy a house. When the rents are higher than what a mortgage payment would be, it's a pretty reasonable thing to do for a lot of people, based on some pretty reasonable projections.
You can still disagree, of course. You can say that 1.5% growth per year in home value is too much to ask. You can say that rents will fall, therefore making your mortgage payment higher than rent. Or you can say that a 7% return is not good enough for you. Or maybe my analysis was wrong, in which case you can point that out.