What people like @thesamparr miss when they make this argument is simple: buying a house *IS* a good investment for most people because it forces discipline. If you funnel the masses into the S&P 500, they'll never enjoy the returns in this chart because they'll sell shares whenever the market has a bad day or the blabbering idiot on TV tells them that the sky is falling. There is no friction. By contrast, you can't exit a house on a whim. It *forces* the masses into the buy-and-hold strategy that is required to be a successful investor. Most people need that. Stop trying to turn everyone into apartment-renting day traders.