Originally Posted by
Baa_Baa
Assuming they can afford to buy a tent, where would you suggest they pitch it?
You might not be able to see it but there are vastly more people, however they get there, who would be more than satisfied with a home/house, that they 'have' (don't own), and that's all they have, than a pathway to riches beyond that. A low bar by some standards, but very high by others.
I think that you make a lot of valid points about how housing is a fraught 'investment' but bear with me, most who buy their first house are not investing at all, they're buying a home, a roof over their heads, security, safety, escape from renting ... and yes, that's going to cost them dearly, over a very long time, perhaps even cost them the opportunity to invest for real wealth creation.
Family security, including a roof over their heads, even at extraordinary expense over a very long time, is ingrained into the psyche of NZ'ers, contrary to any investment thesis. But few of them are investors, or even think in terms of investment.
It might be wrong, very wrong even, but a happy life, a happy wife, a happy family, a safe and secure abode, and one day it somehow can sell for ten times what you paid for it, without ever even intending to achieve that, is a monumental achievement for many who don't have the fiscal or investment skills of those who commentate on their investment, or lack of, expertise.
You can walk the streets of any larger city in NZ and see that investment expertise is pretty much lacking. The guy or girl in the duvet in the street corner has no chance of ever of enjoying a lifetime of paying excessive interest for the luxury of living in their own home.
It's not fair, life is not fair, investing is not fair either, and it's complicated, and beyond many either in comprehension or execution.
Better maybe that we thank our lucky stars that we we have an insight or two, maybe we own what we have already, owe no one any thing, have a bob or two tucked away that might make a few more, have no beef with anyone, and are contented with that.