Cynthia Holmes, adjunct professor of real property in the Schulich School of Business, spoke to The Globe & Mail April 26 about her research on how housing and property market values change over the very long term. They go up with inflation, but don't provide significant real returns:

She points to exceptions – for example, areas going through a transition in housing quality can experience she calls “windfall gains”. She identifies substantial benefits to owning a house – it creates forced savings and can lead to psychological satisfaction from the pride of owning versus renting, but as a whole, houses have not been particularly good investments over the long term.

As evidence, she pointed to research tracking house prices in a central area of Amsterdam over 347 years, from 1628 to 1974. Price appreciation in real terms was very close to zero and nearly all of the growth in real value that did occur happened in two exceptional periods.

Read the complete article on property values over time on the Globe's Website.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– York University’s daily e-bulletin.