We live in the bay area. We'll stay here probably until we retire. However, we will have made a lot of money and will be able to use that money during retirement.
My brothers' bought houses in Texas and have never made any money off of their houses.
We sold our first California home for $850K. We bought it for $325K around 10 years before. We bought our new house for 1.1 million about 2 years ago, and we could probably sell it for 1.3 million today.
Hmm. Bought my first home in 84 for 29K. sold it for 185K
Bought numerous empty lots for 2K+. All worth over 100K. Florida. So?
I am however starting to wonder if my new house might end up the same way. This town is filling up with other Americans who made a fortune selling their home in the US and are buying in a much less expensive market. A house nearby just went for about $600,000 US (very rough exchange rate estimate) and bidding wars are breaking out. I could be sitting pretty in a few years when I return to the states and its time to sell.
Not sure I could ever get into making houses a deliberate investment though or planning for retirement on one. In the early 80's my brother in law got hosed when he got transfered and sold his hould for $69,000 after building it for $110,000 a few years earlier.
The real estate market will crater again.