ABSTRACT
A method must permit one to examine critically the very widespread popular view, assiduously promoted by estate agents, building societies and the state, that house purchase, in contrast to rental, is a form of 'investment' or a form of 'saving'. At the same time the household's willingness to make these payments varies closely and directly with the dwelling's use-value. The comments lead on to consideration of a motive for purchase that has not yet appeared in this analysis: the motive to buy merely for the sake of ownership itself. Moreover, the government's empirical surveys demonstrate with an accuracy to the nearest percentage point that a majority of former private tenants who decided to purchase did so because they 'wanted to buy', an exciting if totally unexpected result.
