> The definition of wealth here is just assets minus liabilities. An asset is anything you can sell for money. You can sell your house for money. Hence it is an asset. In fact, historically, it’s one of the assets with the best returns.<p>Yes, anything you can sell. But in the case of real estate how quickly that happens is subject to many things (e.g., current market conditions, price, etc.)<p>Furthermore, with real estate that asset must be maintained (e.g., maintenance, heated / cooled, property taxes, etc.) These liabilities add up (but aren't often considered when appreciation of the asset is calculated).<p>And of course, there's opportunity costs when it comes to home ownership.<p>I'm not arguing for or against ownership, only that as an asset it's complicated.