You can invest savings in the market, but that ups your risk. Investing in a primary home is fine because you would pay rent otherwise, but look at rent to sell ratios for sure, you won’t always win owning a home if you are in a frothy market where rents are cheap and buying is expensive.
Really, just look for opportunities. Something undervalued, or something you are in a special position or have the skills to leverage (eg you are great with people and like DIY, go ahead and do rentals). That isn’t very easy though, and definitely doesn’t fit into a book.
I've seen many videos by finance youtubers going over the classic "buy a home vs invest the savings" and the dumb mistake that all of them make is assuming that the rent price will stay the same across the entire time frame considered.
It's just not happening.
I did buy a home (a flat, really) rather than investing and my mortgage payment is pretty much the same amount I was paying in 2014 for a single room as a student (same city, high cost of living).
Housing usually is the primary and largest expense every month, so it makes much sense to get that sorted out and stabilized.
This of course assumes that you plan on staying in that city (I've been in the same city for the last 11-12 years). If you're not sure you'll be in the same city in 3-5 years then sure, go ahead and rent.
> I've seen many videos by finance youtubers going over the classic "buy a home vs invest the savings" and the dumb mistake that all of them make is assuming that the rent price will stay the same across the entire time frame considered.
> It's just not happening.
Buy versus rent is pretty complicated, and specific to each market and timeframe.
You are right that rents will increase over time, but so will the value of invested assets. While I cant speak to your youtube videos, it is not crazy to assume that the value of invested assets will increase at least as fast as rents.
Also, even if your mortgage payment is flat, that doesnt means housing expenses are flat. Taxes, insurance, and maintenance should be expected to regularly increase on property you own.
I rented for 9 years in Beijing, paying $1k-$1.5k/month for apartments that were on the market for $1 million. It would have been dumb to buy in that context, an obvious bubble (rents are slightly stronger now, but vacancies are high). There are many bubble markets where you can nope right out of since the rents are probably cheap enough.
Really, just look for opportunities. Something undervalued, or something you are in a special position or have the skills to leverage (eg you are great with people and like DIY, go ahead and do rentals). That isn’t very easy though, and definitely doesn’t fit into a book.