Exactly. You need a place to live, and other places to live have become more expensive too, but you own more of the place you live thanks to appreciation. You d

Exactly. You need a place to live, and other places to live have become more expensive too, but you own more of the place you live thanks to appreciation. You don't have to sell it either to realize the gains, you can borrow against it to make more money for instance, opportunities they certainly wouldn't have had without the appreciation.