Renting vs. buying shares

I think Robots has a good point, rents will keep rising but the homeloan should be pretty much stable depending on interest rates of course but the big advantage with home ownership would be when the property is paid off, then the costs will be minimal compared to renting as well as any capital gains made in the time it took to pay off the loan. Something to think about anyway.

Even if money would be gainfully employed in making money for rent, you have to include tax component.

Say rent is $220 but to have $220 after tax of say 32% average,
you have to earn $324 –32% = $220 roughly.

The same can be said about money frozen in the house as cost of lost opportunity, should the money frozen in the house be used for alternative money producing investment.

Effectively everything is boiling down to preference, plus of course peace of mind in case you own the property and do not have to move just because somebody pulled the plug on you.

what i comes down to when you buy a house/unit is are you buying a home or a investment.......if you are buying a home the dollar value doesnt come into it as far as i am concerned.when you decide that this place is it, the place where i will bring my kids up, and the place where they bring your grand children too.....it doesnt matter what the real estate market is doing and what houses are worth or the interest rate....the thought of ever selling up will never go thru your mind.i feel that renting even if it out ways the cost of buying your own home doesnt appeal to me.there is more to it then weighing up the cost...i hope the great aussie dream never fades or gets out of reach for the starters.