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The house itself normally isn't appreciating; it's the land that does. People don't consume land (usually).

Yeah the whole housing structure in the US seems to be geared towards creating a ton of wealth for the real estate business. Which isn't the worse thing; but lets not confuse ourselves that it is a legitimate way to build wealth (it is somewhat so; but you can usually get better returns from other financial instruments over the long haul).

>Housing is something people consume. It's durable, but so are cars and imagining them as being a gateway investment to the middle class because they will cost more in the future should be just as silly as for housing.

But when you're talking a capitalization period on the order of the average person's lifespan, it becomes a new class of asset in my mind. You can't treat something which will pretty much guaranteed always exist until the day you die the same as a usable good.