Houses are not just for living in anymore

A disturbing trend has emerged over the last few years of the real estate boom - the view of a house as an investment instead of as a "home". We are seeing this more and more as property values have skyrocketed in Calgary, that people are assuming they will always make money on their home. An interesting article mentions the reaction the previous generation would have to this phenomenon:

Roger admits his parents probably wouldn't recognize the anxiety he's feeling. "They bought a home thinking they were going to live there for 30 years and pay off the mortgage," he says. "It wasn't 'We'll live there for five years and pocket some money.' It wasn't an investment game for them." Then again, they couldn't imagine living in a $750,000 home, either. "We've kind of oversold ourselves on the need for our homes to be investments," he says reflectively.