I don't.

My grandparents have a "property they can now sell". They never will. They've been investing in it and adding to it for so long that it has become useless to any potential buyer, and parts of it are now so old they really really need repairs.

They cannot afford to sell because the investment to make it sellable for a good price is too high. Nobody would want to buy because the investment to turn it into a useable large house, is too high.

So instead they turned a tiny part of the house into an apartment for themselves because the costs of living in the whole thing are too high. They turn on the heating in the rest of the house just enough during winter to keep the pipes from freezing.

None of the kids want to inherit the property. None of the grandkids want it either.

The location isn't that great either because the economic activity the location was great for (wine) is now in tatters and the government is paying people to please for the love of god stop making wine and cut down their vineyards.

My mum has a nice flat in a downtown area. She recently had to go into debt to afford to fix it up. She could potentially sell, but then she'd have nowhere to live. She's too young to buy a rural house (same price) because she still goes to work. She's too entrenched to deal with finding a new apartment somewhere else. And she'd have to pay more for a new apartment than she'd get for her current flat. At 50-ish, she also doesn't really want to go into another 10+ year mortgage.

So ... no, I don't see the value in owning.

Basically: Having all your wealth tied up in an illiquid asset is twoplus not good.

I wish just one of you droids parroting this argument was actually old enough to have done it. My parents own a property like this. They are never going to sell it because (among other things) they have invested more money in upkeep and renovations to make it just the way they want it than it is worth to an average buyer, plus they like having it for family get-togethers. It's simply not at all the investment vehicle you starry-eyed dreamers think it is.