A recent poll showed most people now feel that housing is the best long-term investment, even better than stocks, bonds, or gold.
Part of this is the psychology of seeing a big lump sum at the end of paying it off and selling it.
Like Robert Schiller, the foremost expert on housing, says: “…it hasn’t been a good provider of capital gains. It is a provider of housing services.”
“Capital gains have not even been positive. From 1890 to 1990, real inflation-corrected home prices were virtually unchanged.”
For example, from 1890 through 2012, home prices adjusted for inflation went nowhere. Not a single dime of real growth. For comparison, the S&P 500 increased more than 2,000-fold during that period, adjusted for inflation. And from 1890- 1980, real home prices actually declined by about 10%.
The entire idea that home prices increase in real terms over time is a figment of the 2000s housing bubble.
In 2010, after the housing bubble burst, people still expected their homes to appreciate by more than 6% a year in the next decade. That is more than twice the normal rate. Despite the housing crash, people still expect stock-like returns out of their homes.
Since a home is most people’s largest asset, inflated expectations can become a problem.
The value of American homes fell by almost $7 trillion from 2007 to 2011. People who thought their homes would return enough to pay for retirement learned that Mr. Market carries a sledgehammer and takes no prisoners.
Everyone should live in a home they can afford and provides the lifestyle they desire. But assuming it’s a superior long-term investment, one to rival stocks, is dangerous. There’s just no evidence to back it up.
A home is typically the asset people hold the longest. They sell stocks after a few months, but keep a home for years, or decades. When you own something for that long, the returns you think you earned can be overwhelmingly due to inflation. The CPI has increased six-fold since 1970. If you bought a house for $30,000 in 1970 and it’s worth $180,000 today, you’ve earned nothing after inflation. You think you’ve made a fortune, but you haven’t gone anywhere. Add in property taxes, insurance and repairs, and you’re down.