The window where you can put off buying a home is tiny

SouthLondonUser

SouthLondonUser wrote: »

For someone who will never move, it makes more sense to think they will have to pay stamp duty sooner or later. For someone who may move more than once, it makes more sense to think of the stamp duty as a dead cost.

To think of it another way: if you know you will buy sooner or later, and don't think you will move multiple times, yes, I agree it can make sense not to treat the deposit as a dead cost, but as an expense you will have to incur anyway sooner or later (ie not a differentiating factor).

Another way to look at it is that, if you don't, you can compare renting vs buying over short time periods, say 12-18 months, and - incorrectly - reach the conclusion you're better off always renting. Which may be true if you really move somewhere else after a very short period, not if you stay put a while. That's how crash trolls like crashy rationalise wasting decades renting instead of buying.