--- title: Why Buying a House Is Like Having a Baby | TIME description: Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller explains what babies and houses have in common, and opines on whether we're in another housing bubble. canonical: https://time.com/video/heK0HWva/ og:title: Why Buying a House Is Like Having a Baby og:description: Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller explains what babies and houses have in common, and opines on whether we're in another housing bubble. og:url: https://time.com/video/heK0HWva/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/heK0HWva/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Buying a House Is Like Having a Baby twitter:description: Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller explains what babies and houses have in common, and opines on whether we're in another housing bubble. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/heK0HWva/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Why Buying a House Is Like Having a Baby > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Why Buying a House Is Like Having a Baby [Watch (HLS stream): Why Buying a House Is Like Having a Baby](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/heK0HWva.m3u8) (2:31)  _Published 2015-06-25. Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller explains what babies and houses have in common, and opines on whether we're in another housing bubble._ --- Jul 27, 2023 6:28 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Best Investment Advice from Economist Robert Shiller](/video/8tfIPk5t/) ### Best Investment Advice from Economist Robert Shiller [Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Explains the Skirt Length Index](/video/JWYwiL0Z/) ### Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Explains the Skirt Length Index [Did Robert Shiller Get a Good Deal on His House?](/video/NOy7Kl8A/) ### Did Robert Shiller Get a Good Deal on His House? --- ## Transcript So if someone were looking to buy a house right now, what general advice would you give them for how to kind of do their homework? First of all, do you really want to buy a house? It's like having a baby. You're gonna be working. You're going to be worrying about this house. It's gonna break down. You're gonna get termites. You're gonna have a snowstorm and you have to get the roof shovel. All these things, and then on top of that, it keeps needing painting and maintenance, and it's a headache. On the other hand, I lived in the house. It's if you value the neighborhood and you value, it's mostly for people who are in a stable job Thinking, I'm not gonna move for ten years. You wouldn't buy a house for a short time. If you fit all of those, I think it's good. But it's like a consumption choice. It's not really an investment. After that, I think people should also consider renting, especially if they're not settled in a job, and they're not It's just gonna make your life easier and more. And you can put your money in some other investment. So it's not like you're missing out on an investment opportunity. Do you think that, housing prices have bounced back considerable since they bottomed out a couple years ago. Do you think that we're approaching or in another bubble? Well, interesting question. I think in some places we are, San Francisco, for example. They're up over 60 % since 2009. That's a pretty big increase. And some of these cities are approaching the prices they had at the peak before the crisis. So it looks bubbly in places. It's always gonna be some places. Overall it's not as enthusiastic as it was say in 2005. So back in, well go back further, 2003, 2004, we did surveys of home buyers and ask them, what do you think home prices will do on average for the next ten years. Typical answer was oh, 10, 12, 15 % a year increase. Now that was crazy. Home prices are not going to do that well. Their not talking like that anymore. People don't have such extravagant expectations. 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