> Financial calculations ignore the leveraged nature of buying a home. Small increases in property value are multipled relative to your initial investment. Thi

> Financial calculations ignore the leveraged nature of buying a home. Small increases in property value are multipled relative to your initial investment. This is absolutely true, though it is also hard to account for that risk, which also leveraged the down side: Toronto is experiencing a 30% drop right now which probably means that for the last 3 years of home buyers, they are all having a mortgage higher then their property value. They actually have lost a lot of money and paid interest for it. > - “I don’t want to pay those high real estate taxes.” Renters still pay the same real estate taxes, it’s just baked into the rent and can’t be deducted from taxes. This is a nuanced economic topic: property taxes don't transfer to rent quite right. Rent is not that elastic to tax changes, while property values are. The rest of the comments you mention about tax exemption for being a homeowner is true and pretty ridiculous. EDIT: looking into toronto's case, it seems to particular about restrictions or otherwise. The point in general is that the leverage works both ways, so there is exposure.