This might be true where you live, but in the U.S., property taxes can be quite low or nonexistent, and you CAN write off a lot of things related to home ownership. Passing on one’s house is a MAIN form of wealth transfer to the young here, and paying off (or paying cash for) one’s house is usually one’s insurance against poverty and homelessness in old age, given we have little to no safety net. Putting your house in a trust eliminates the capital gains taxes and estate probate issues upon inheritance. The usurious interest rates and private equity/supply issues right now notwithstanding, home ownership is not dying anytime soon in the U.S.