Would love feedback from the HN community on this post!
But if I own I either need to sell or rent out my unit, both of which are expensive up-front and dependent on future market conditions, at a time where I am likely at a cash-flow low point in my personal finances. Even if it's good in the long-run, conditions may not be good at the moment I need to move.
It's possible that the upside of ownership is strong enough to be worth it anyway, but the risk and reward would have to be quantified a little better for me to want to take the jump.
tl;dr: Just because buying housing is a good investment for Wall Street doesn't mean I should buy myself a place to live in.