Myito, you appear to have ignored the meat of my post. Just because you lost money while investing in something other than real estate, does not mean that others will do the same. My investments are fairly conservative.
I just ran a homebuyer calculation on a comprehensive spreadsheet my husband created (factors in prop taxes, income taxes, and many others). Lets say I bought right now in my target market and you assume the following:
Home prices froze for 5 years (don’t go up, don’t go down)
I would have gained 5.2% on my down payment, conservatively invested
My net worth would be $260,000 less than if I had rented during that time. If home values go down, that number goes up, up, up. You have some huge blind spots.