alt Hacker NewsI moved from an expensive real estate market to a less expensive one. That has nothing to do with appreciation — just equity.
Further, when I downsize — even in the same real estate market — that too is equity working in my favor independent of appreciation.
How is getting your own money back, many years later, without appreciation "equity working in [your] favor"?
Without the appreciation (and leverage multiplying that), buying housing would be nowhere near as good an investment. (As it stands today, it's phenomenal, of course.)