You also haven't factored in home-owner government welfare: Here everybody aims to keep the house in as much debt as possible as long as possible because the in

You also haven't factored in home-owner government welfare: Here everybody aims to keep the house in as much debt as possible as long as possible because the interest can be written off as an income tax deduction, while the "repayments" build up to fund a second property purchase. Granted this will depend on where you are in the world. Here, the house has to be a rental property to be able to deduct the interest. It's a stupid game I don't want to play, but not playing makes me the automatic loser of it.