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All of this assumes there would be no tax on the yield. The big benefit of owning a house is that the coupon (living in the house) isn't taxed anywhere in the c

All of this assumes there would be no tax on the yield. The big benefit of owning a house is that the coupon (living in the house) isn't taxed anywhere in the civilised world. Whereas interest payments are usually taxed at least as capital gains if not income.

chii 5y ago
> isn't taxed anywhere in the civilised world. Some countries do tax imputed rent, such as Belgium, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imputed_rent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imputed_rent
- darkwater 5y ago
  I'm not aware of such a tax in Spain, at least where I leave.
  - kace91 5y ago
    He might be referring to the impuesto de patrimonio, which you pay when your total net worth(including the value of your house) goes above a certain, regionally set figure.
- the_svd_doctor 5y ago
  Belgium does that? There is a sort of property tax (cadastre I think), but it’s not very high. And rent income is tax free
  - tverbeure 5y ago
    They call it cadaster income, which, according to the Belgian ministry of finance website, is “a fictitious income that corresponds to the average yearly net income of the property to the owner.” Isn’t that pretty much the same as “imputed rent”, after subtracting costs? (I haven’t seen an Belgian tax bill in over 20 years, but I remember that estimate income to be very low indeed.)