If it moves exactly with inflation, then levering up actually is savvy. Ex: if inflation is 1% and you put down 5%, your return in real dollars is nearly 20%.
But the results are all dependent on your assumptions. If you assume houses will increase in value you get much better results than if you assume they will lose value, or not keep up with inflation.
If you assume stocks will go up a lot, it makes housing a comparatively "worse" investment.
Yes, my calculation ignored property tax, repairs, etc. I thought you were making a claim that being at the inflation level meant leverage wouldn't help you. I agree you'd have to take the total cost into account before deciding whether to buy or rent, but then in that larger analysis I don't see how comparing to the inflation rate is so crucial: it's possible that the home value increases faster than inflation but it still makes better sense to rent (if taxes or repairs are prohibitively expensive). I think I misunderstood your point.
