When people say a house is a good investment they mean, "Given that people need someplace to live and will be paying the cost and maintenance for lodging, a house is a good investment since that cost benefits an asset you own".
With laxing repayment requirements, volatile markets, and easier access to other investment types, times have changed. If you know where you want to live, it's still an easy way to save money, but a stock market index fund is equally simple to use.
That being said, I do enjoy being a homeowner more than a renter. No shared walls, no waiting for maintenance, no worrying about whether the landlord will increase my rent by a lot, and I have a back yard for plants and a fire pit. Never got that while renting.
And you get good tax benefits.
And if you make it a short term rental and do things right you can deduct the depreciation against your W2 income. This can be a massive benefit if you do accelerated depreciation.
It still won't be a great investment unless there is significant appreciation...
You could get very lucky and buy before a boom tho they don't happen often. Historical Low interest rates drove that boom. I Am missing my three percent rate I had on my first house.
This is beyond any pecuniary aspects.
