When a Home Became an Investment

In The Great Divide, housing is not just a roof or a line on a balance sheet: it shapes security, wealth and opportunity across generations.

The paired portraits and credits appear on the series home. This is Martin’s independent commentary on Kohler’s published work. Alan Kohler has not reviewed or endorsed it.

Kohler’s documented work

What he has argued

In The Great Divide, Kohler examines how rising land and home values have widened the gap between people who own housing and those who do not. The argument connects a household’s chance of secure shelter with a much larger distribution of wealth. When property appreciation becomes a central route to financial security, people who bought earlier can gain without producing a better home, while renters and younger households face higher entry costs. This is an account of policy and institutions as well as market prices.

Martin’s response

Where I agree, and where I go further

I agree with the basic challenge: a society should not treat ever-rising home values as an unquestionable measure of success while secure housing moves out of reach. A home is a foundation for care, rest and participation in a community. I also think the question continues beyond the distribution of existing assets: could new production methods reduce the scarcity that makes a safe home so costly in the first place?

Open question

What I still want to understand

How much of the divide can be narrowed by changing tax, planning and construction settings, and what would still be scarce even if building became cheaper? I do not attribute my abundance question to Kohler; it is where his diagnosis leads me.

Research trail

Sources

Published 18 October 2026 · Commentary by Martin Davies-Roundhill · Contact End Up Here