Opportunity cost means makes purchasing with a mortgage wiser than buying cash. $1000/month more for a few years is nothing compared to the property value increase of a $1M property
Where I live, condo's do not increase in value much due to HOA fees and taxes.
I just plugged in some numbers using (estimated) purchase price, taxes, HOA for the unit I'm in now, and it would cost me a little over $1M over 30 years to own a $300,000 1br apt.
The stock market goes up more than the housing market. When considering the return on investment for a house, remember the property taxes, insurance costs, maintenance costs, repair costs, 6% real estate commissions, and so on.
