<prompt> Human: I hear a lot of people say that you cant go wrong with buying a house, its a good investment as its price will rise obviously this isnt guaranteed to happen. But say I buy a house for 200k in cash, then over 15 years it doubles in value to 400k. If I sell it, Ive made 200k profit, but then surely to buy another equivalent house to live in Ill need to pay about 400k so I wont have made anything. How is this a good investment?Avoiding paying rent for 15 years would clearly save a lot of money, but is there anyway the house purchase itself can be considered a good investment though?I can see how a second home that you werent going to live in would be a good investment, but I dont understand how your own home can be.Thanks  <response>: A few other points from the things people say catalog:- Your primary residence is never an investment...its your primary residence, roof over your head, etc- Real estate values are more or less a shield against inflation, and when all is said and done, your house likely will do about or slightly better than inflation making your equity there more secure than were it just in a savings account. 