No it doesn't. As long as you're purchasing not renting, you have a chance of getting that money back out, but it's nuts to me. I sat next to a SF attorney on

No it doesn't. As long as you're purchasing not renting, you have a chance of getting that money back out, but it's nuts to me. I sat next to a SF attorney on a plane a year or two ago. She said she and her husband were putting 75% of their take-home pay towards their mortgage when they purchased their first home. Their incomes rose which made things a bit better. After a few years, they sold it off, made a fair bit of money from appreciation, and got a place outside of SF city limits where they had at least a very small yard. It's only a matter of time before home prices drop in a bubble and thousands have lost a giant chunk of their net worth which was held up in a single undiversifiable asset.