[CalRobert]

I'm on the same page but that was kind of my point. Say I buy a house in 2010 for 100k. In 2022 my house is worth 300k. Now say I want to move to a similar house next door that went through similar price changes. It likely went through the same appreciation. It's a lot easier for me to buy that house when I've got the equity in my own then if I'd been renting the whole time.

And to the prop tax and cap gains notes - we distort things by giving people carveouts for property tax (note Prop 13 in California) and not charging capital gains taxes on houses, at least below a certain limit (250/500 single/married in the US, for instance)

[chiefalchemist]

Buying v renting. That's a different discussion.

But now that you brought it up...renters might not have equity but have you balanced equity against taxes, time and cost of maintenance, etc.*

Again, these are costs too often not considered. Too many people falsely quote their closing prices as what they paid for their home. Nah. That's the total cost of mortgage + taxes + insurance + time & cost of maintenance, etc. That's the full understanding of the costs.

* of course there are community and family reasons for owning. But that stability can be an anchor. WFH is changing that for knowledge workers. But what if you can't WFH and your type of work is not growing in your area. With ownership you can't pickup and move.

The topic has nuance and can be complicated. It's not the simple model banking and real estate sell, that much is true.