Or, don't invest in real estate because, if you're not supremely wealthy, purchasing a house will both drastically concentrate / un-diversify your holdings and

Or, don't invest in real estate because, if you're not supremely wealthy, purchasing a house will both drastically concentrate / un-diversify your holdings and result in you spending multiple years of earnings (hundreds of thousands of dollars) on mortgage interest. You not only need for the house to continue increasing in value, you need it to increase in value above what you paid in mortgage interest, above what you pay in transaction related expenses (real estate agent commissions etc.), above the cost of capital improvement (i.e. repairs), above the return you would have earned on the money had you invested it instead of paying mortgage interest, plus an expected rate of return on the entire property that you would need to actually sell, which is illiquid, and you may find that you would want or need to sell at an inconvenient time, i.e. when interest rates are high, making it more difficult to realize a return. Sure, you don't need to pay rent to a landlord, or moving fees. But if/when purchase prices are so far out of whack compared to rents, it's better to invest the difference in your diversified portfolio instead. And if you really want to invest in real estate, you can invest it in real estate ETFs instead, which are more liquid and do not require such a large financial outlay as to concentrate your portfolio. Don't get me wrong, there are other reasons to buy a house. But they're usually emotional, not financial.