2008 proved to be the biggest housing bust in the American Continent, and during that time, certain parts of the world have also been affected by the financial crash. This 2016 may have proved to be the reverse, since China went collapsing on the first part of the year, which affected other countries as well including the US, but there is a big surge in homes sales.
According to Jason Cabler buying a house as a long term invest really is dependent on the situation when you first bought it. It would be a good idea that you first calculate the cost first, if you really can afford it, and Second if you will be spending and earning or losing more than what you have invested on it.
Take for example the numbers that was presented by Cabler. He said in a three part paragraph quoted: "Let's assume you invest in a $200,000 home at today's historically low rates of 3.5% on a 30 year loan. I'll also assume that the homeowner spends $100/month on maintenance, and $100/ month on property taxes and $40/ month on homeowner's insurance. These are lowball estimates and can vary widely depending on the age of the house and property tax rates where you live.
Over 30 years of house payments you'll pay back the $200,000 purchase price plus $123,312 in interest on your home investment. Also over that 30 years you will have spent $36,000 on maintenance ($100×360 months), and $36,000 ($100×360 months) on property taxes, assuming they never went up during that time, and $14,400 on insurance.
In all, over that 30 year time period you will have spent $409,712 on your housing investment," end quote.
There are those who end up paying too much for a house and you think want to rethink that option. No matter what happens in the world market, what matters the most is our ability to find out for ourselves whether a buying a house would be a good investment for us.