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[b]Blissex[/b] wrote, [quote]They are good news actually for everybody, because houses are like cars a consumption item, even if so many affluent rentiers think they are "investments".[/quote] Not really. The house is, yes, a consumption item, though one which (AFAICT, having owned both) perhaps depreciates more slowly. The land under the house is most definitely not a consumption item. Most (not all, of course) land will appreciate, not depreciate. Which is precisely why land is an investment item. - liberal