[hagy]

Homeownership cannot be both affordable and a good investment because a good investment has returns that at least beat inflation. That implies housing costs for new buyers will become increasingly expensive in real terms.

Think about how cars generally depreciate over time such that a used car becomes more affordable. During the pandemic, this trend broke to supply side disruptions and used cars actually started to appreciate. Housing always has supply side constraints to zoning regulations to guard the entrenched interests of existing homeowners, and thereby housing generally appreciates in value.

The closest that we can come to balancing both affordability and investment interests in a growing area is to constantly increase housing density. Then the land itself can appreciate in value as larger buildings are built in a fixed footprint. Yet the price of an individual unit of housing can stay roughly constant in real terms due to the ever increasing supply.

[WalterBright]

Houses (not the land) tended to depreciate over time (like cars) until the 1970s.

[jjav]

> Homeownership cannot be both affordable and a good investment because a good investment has returns that at least beat inflation.

This is precisely why a house is different. You can't live in a stock certificate but you live in a home. If you buy a stock at $10 and sell it for $10 ten years later you lost money. If you buy a house and sell it ten years later at exactly the same price it was still good value because you got to live in it for a decade.