People are often overpaying for a house, at the cost of owning a home.
Bingo.
The first place I bought (31 years ago, ouch) was for 59k USD. A 2 BR, 1 BA fixer-upper in move-in condition. The furnace was iffy, the air-conditioning non-existent, the insulation marginal. But even then, the bank had authorized a 130k loan. Rather than taking chances, went with the starter home.
It seems that the younger generations are impatient, they want their "dream home" as their first home - it is insanity, as they go in with very little collateral, but are buying the top of the market.
I had to start again in Finland, so my second home was bought in 2008, a little apartment that I made 30% on, then scaled down to a larger full reno apartment for half the price of the last, that we (now with wife) added more to our collateral on and then, bought this fixer-upper house, which we hope to be in for a while but if not, we can sell for another gain after the work we have done.
What was interesting was, the bank would have given us a loan for around 400K, but wouldn't give us a loan to spend 230K + 70 for a renovation, to increase the value of the house to 380. They don't want people making gains with sweat equity.
when you buy property, arent you always buying at the top of the market?
Depends on the property and how desperate they are to sell fast. But technically when you are buying anything you are buying at the top, right?
Measured in Fiat, that's usually the case IMO. There can be exceptions of course.
As a general rule of thumb, fiat usually halves every 7 years. So after 15 years your "debt" should be halved.