[davidjfelix]

I think the problem is seeing it as an investment. Most people won't say a car is an investment but rather a cost - the investment is transportation and its value is gained external to the sell price of the car. The home itself really ought to be considered a cost, while the land and property as a whole may (but not necessarily) be an investment.

It produces a dividend of shelter for the owner. Assuming labor and material prices are fixed, the asset should be depreciating in value from wear and use which would all point to flat or lowering value.

Assuming that it must make returns, one or more of the following must be true:

* Labor price increases

* Material price increases

* Land value increases

[Workaccount2]

The market is what determines how it is viewed, not the homeowner.

When auto market hit supply constraints during the pandemic, the used car market got bought up and people started investing in cars to flip. There is no escaping "viewed as an investment" in a supply constrained market.

[patmcc]

This is true, except we've allowed homeowners to control the supply.

Imagine used car dealers lobbied to make new cars impossible to build/sell. Of course their prices would go up! Homeowners happily lobby and vote for policies that make it difficult to build new supply, to protect their own investments. We need to break that loop and allow the market to actually build supply and rein in prices.