The hole in the system, though, is fixed-rate loans over the long term, and the ability to refinance relatively-cheaply. If you buy a house when rates and inflation are low, then over the life of the loan you'll win on inflation. All you have to do is hang on to that low-interest loan. If you happen to buy when rates are high, then you refinance the next time they're low and hold that loan. It's the ability to (worst-case, "eventually") lock in a low rate for decades that lets you win from inflation in the long term. There are a lot of people that were holding onto real estate loans at ~2-4% throughout the pandemic monetary+housing inflation cycle that made out very well. They didn't have to predict it or time it, they just grabbed a low-rate loan some time back whenever they could, and then waited for the inevitable to eventually happen.