Why would someone want to own a home? 1. Tap into an ever-rising, yet completely safe investment asset with massive leverage. 2. You can get more space owning

Why would someone want to own a home? 1. Tap into an ever-rising, yet completely safe investment asset with massive leverage. 2. You can get more space owning than you can renting. 3. You have more certainty (can't be evicted, etc) 4. You enjoy home improvement as a weekend hobby. 1, 2 and 3 are ponzinomics. 1. This is obvious, and the main factor. It is only true because of the artificially constrained housing supply. Without this artificial scarcity, housing wouldn't increase in price any more than copper or pork bellies. Spending all of your net worth and going deep into debt to invest in a single pig farm would be considered very foolish and undiversified. Investing in a single housing property would be the same without the artificial market distortion. Existing homeowners have created this market distortion by pushing through ever-tighter zoning regulations at the local level. They are always ranting about conspiracies of "landlords" and "developers". Businesses that increase the housing supply are their natural enemy. 2. This is related to the factor above. You can't really get more space buying than renting, you just feel that it is safer to spend a large portion of your income on a mortgage since it's such a "safe investment". 3. Eviction wouldn't be an issue in a market with sufficient supply. Your rent wouldn't go up any faster than inflation, and might even go down. A landlord wouldn't want to evict you any more than a business would want lose you as a customer. 4. I guess I will have to concede that renting is a worse option for hobbyist carpenters.