As housing prices increase on the post-recession wave, many experts are asking people to reconsider the dream of buying and owning a home, especially if that means sinking too deeply in debt or sacrificing mobility.
Alison Smith writes a cost-benefits analysis of home ownership in the current Canadian experience, where “[in] little more than a decade, the average house price in Canada has more than doubled, outpacing inflation and incomes.” The question is whether houses are still the dream investment they used to be, especially since so many people are so deeply invested in the idea: “Some Canadians are spending as much as 50 per cent of their income on mortgage payments.”
Smith cites David Chilton author of the Wealthy Barber, who asks consumers to think more modestly: “My argument has always been a more modest home is a better way to live…You're not stressed about your financial future. You have enough money flowing through to save."
FULL STORY: Rethinking the home ownership dream
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
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Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
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