well - housing appreciation has been part of the attraction of homeownership in the US for many years. Truth is most people don’t want a lot of money or at least arent willing to work for it, they are deathly afraid of the stock market because they don’t understand it. You might say they are stupid, and some undoubtedly are, but a house means a place to live and in the past a dependable source of income or equity. It takes guts and hard work to be successful in real estate but undoubtedly there is at least one guy out there livin large at a fully paid house that is the net proceeds of a dozen 0 percent down credit cards and a few savvy flips at the height of the bubble. But even staid Americans have traditionally used the gently rising housing market as a sensible way of making money.
Well, I guess as a form of very-low-return forced savings housing is an "investment".
But that bears no comparison to the insane housing bubble of 2001-05.
When the value of Krugerrands, Beanie Babies, or tulips goes stratospheric, the average prudent J6P's life is not seriously affected.
But when 1500 square foot houses in middle class neighborhoods start getting bid up to the point where it takes an 90th percentile income to afford one (without a toxic mortgage), we are talking serious damage to our way of life.