[aliston]

The home itself is fundamentally a depreciating asset as well. I think theres a reasonable argument to be made that the perception of real estate as an asset with increasing value is largely inflated by 30 years of increased leverage, decreasing interest rates, longer loan terms and decreased lending standards. Back in the 1950s, the average loan-to-value on a home was about 50%. Somehow it has since become standard to leverage yourself 5:1 on a home purchase, which for any other asset class would be kind of nuts!