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^ Indeed they are, as homes are the only high value property that the average consumer will ever own. Moreover, in the most basic economic terms, shelter is one of the three basic expenditures that all individuals must attend to, along with food and clothing. Once housing, generally one's primary expenditure, is secure, one is free (or freer) to invest in other sectors of the economy - stocks, bonds, non-essential consumer goods, etc. Home ownership is key to economic risk-taking, which, in turn, is key to economic growth. Rental-based economies tend to segregate meaningful economic growth in a small segment of society - the land-owning class. When home ownership becomes accessible to a wider spectrum of society, wealth tends to spread beyond the traditional elites as well. Witness the exponential growth of the North American economy from the 1950s onwards, when structured finance schemes made mortgages and thus home ownership a viable option for segments of society which never would have dreamed of it before.

The importance of home ownership to healthy economies is generally considered irrefutable.