A house is a object that provides shelter as utility. They decay over time. They provide a physical function, like a shoe, then they go bad. If anything, the mortgage note is money over the bricks and sticks. The $ in the note (fiat contract) was created from nothing. The money doesnt exist. Its not money, its debt. The prices of the note only goes up in nominal $ value over time because the money printer (unless you have added rooms and a new roof, etc). My house increased 40% in nominal value in 2021 and that was NOT a product of a change in buyer-seller dynamics. It's an illusion because you are not making any real money gains. If you paid off all the debt there wouldn't be any money.