There are a variety of reasons to buy a house. One is to use, or consume, the shelter that it provides. As a human, you'll always be a "natural buyer" of shelte

There are a variety of reasons to buy a house. One is to use, or consume, the shelter that it provides. As a human, you'll always be a "natural buyer" of shelter. (Though not necessarily always where you own shelter.) Another reason to own property is to speculate on the valuation of the land or the house itself. These two aspects of home ownership are very often conflated. It's actually shocking how infrequently this distinction is discussed, especially given how common home ownership is.