[seanp2k2]

True, with the other difference being that you can live in a house, but you can't live in securities or the bank vault. A house has actual utility (well, the first one), hence all the tax benefits (in theory).

What I think is kind of ridiculous are all the benefits for second homes and beyond. IMO, if you're wealthy enough to afford a second home, you don't need any more government subsidies; all the benefits should go to people who don't yet have a place to live that they own. I can definitely see how this would be a very unpopular opinion among those with lots of potential money to lose if they could not keep the lower classes of people renting the property which they bought a lifetime++ deed to at a one-time cost.