I suspect one factor in the question of housing as a good investment is the availability of credit—I can get a mortgage for almost the entire value of a house, pay a relatively low rate of interest on that debt (currently at least), then benefit from appreciation on the full value of the whole property.
Meanwhile I can’t make a comparably leveraged investment into the stock market—borrowing money secured against my ownership of shares or index funds or whatever would be much more expensive, if it were even available in the first place.
I suspect one factor in the question of housing as a good investment is the availability of credit—I can get a mortgage for almost the entire value of a house, pay a relatively low rate of interest on that debt (currently at least), then benefit from appreciation on the full value of the whole property.
Meanwhile I can’t make a comparably leveraged investment into the stock market—borrowing money secured against my ownership of shares or index funds or whatever would be much more expensive, if it were even available in the first place.