> I bought this house new, and didn't live there very long

End of story. That's the entire conversation right there.

Note how much money he made on the house he lived in for a decent amount of time... (~330k, minus minor investments on repairs)

Renting is better than buying if you're not going to live in the house for any real duration (real meaning 5+ years).

Otherwise... at least in the US... the financials around 30 year mortgages and a target inflation rate mean buying is going to work in your favor.

Will this blow up at some point? Meh, maybe? But for now, owning is FAR better assuming you actually hold onto the property. The longer you hold, the better it gets.

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hylaride 6 hours ago | parent [-]

> Otherwise... at least in the US... the financials around 30 year mortgages and a target inflation rate mean buying is going to work in your favor.

Yeah, subsidized mortgages (via government insurance and mortgage interest deductibility) tilt the market towards home ownership in most of the USA.

Most of the rest of the world doesn't intervene in its housing market as much and the ROI on owning vs renting can shift. Switzerland will tax your home on the potential rental income of your home, whether you rent it out or not (I think this recently changed, though). The home ownership rate is historically between 30-40%. Basically farmers and the upper quartile of income earners are the majority of owners. The result is that most Swiss have their wealth in more liquid assets and are also highly mobile for work.

> Will this blow up at some point? Meh, maybe?

Owning is also turning into a problem for many Americans. Some people are trapped in their homes because moving means resetting locked in low interest rates. Insurance has made home ownership extremely expensive in much of the states that were fastest growing over the past decade. I'm sure solutions (good and bad) will come, but sometimes it's nice to just be able to hand in notice and walk away.

	▲	Leherenn 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> I think this recently changed, though Yes, it will take effect in 2028. Although that's unfortunate, it was a good tax to equalise tax treatment of owners vs renters. The Swiss market is also different in many ways: no capital gains taxes except on real estate, which really shifts the invest against house appreciation towards renting. > Basically farmers and the upper quartile of income earners are the majority of owners. I'm not certain the second part is very true. Of course, given how prices are you need to be rich to buy, but I think the bias is a lot more towards age than income: those that own are overwhelmingly those that bought a long time ago or inherited. Finally, rent control results in some crazy price to rent ratios in the big cities: Zürich is around 35. But as usual with rent control, it's if you can find the right place.