Long-term benefits of home ownership....a quick look at data

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): The long-term benefits of home ownership, greatly outweigh the your short term worries. I would not make such a bold statement, without having some historical data to support; we’ll get it that. And although It may sound cliche or something that we were always told as we were coming into adulthood, it is essentially a fact that buying property now, will certainly pay dividends (literally and figuratively) in the future.

So lets take a look at some historical data…. over the last 5 years, the average percent change in home prices over that time span is +57.3%! That sounds like a huge jump in value, if you bought your house in 2018 right?! Even using very basic beer math, if you bought a house in 2018 for $100,000 then you are likely within range of that house being upwards of $150,000. Thats a significant amount of equity built, even if you made minimal improvements to this house. I’m sure you’re thinking “Yea with current inflation and the state of the economy and covid blah blah blah”. I can understand that logic. So lets take it a step further. Over the last 30 years, that percent change in home prices is pushing 300% in growth (officially 297%)! We don’t even need to do the math on that, to know that its a huge financial win.

Overall, I think it would be extremely difficult to find someone that bought a home 5, 10, or 30 years ago, that regrets their decision. The gains that home owners have made is so drastic, that it could single-handedly change your families legacy. Of course, with any investment there is some risk involved and that is not to say that you may not be coming out of pocket at times for improvements or repairs. But we’re in this for the long haul right? …. Make the investment, take the risk, celebrate later!