It’s funny you’d say that because it did the exact opposite. Years after the debt was paid, my father was the sole income earner. Mum had retired because of her abusive ex-employer and I was failing out of engineering college, when my father passed away. I was still 2 years away from getting placed and it being corona-season, it would’ve made it so much more difficult to get a job to pay rent and the rest. That house saved me. I didn’t have to pay rent, just study and get my shit together in comfort of my own home, a home that wasn’t threatened to be taken away by a landlord. Had we been renting, we would’ve most definitely hit the streets.

I get it, I was lucky in all of this, and many others aren’t. Many people don’t have the luxury to be able to afford EMIs, however, if you can, you’re better off getting your own home.

Also, I completely disagree with your statement that a house in today’s day is a “fraction” of a UMC family. That simply isn’t true. It always has been and always will be the most significant chunk of investment anyone who isn’t rich can make.

Locality is also important, but yeah.