[ulrich]

This is a very biased view and it might become invalid in different market conditions. Just think of a great inflation or any market collapse. If you own a house, you can still live in there. But you can only burn your cash for heating.

As long as our financial system works, cash is of course the best form of an asset.

[teyc]

That's absolutely right.

All discussions about the merits of investing in houses must be compared to something else that is available at the moment.

Cash may be king now, but one needs to always be aware of inflation.

I am surprised though at his figures for housing:

> Housing returned 0.4% per year from from 1890 to 2004.

I wonder where he got that from.

There are times when you can buy for less than the cost of replacement, due to rising cost of building materials, labour et c.