"Average rental returns 2.5-3%, inflation 3.3%, you're right I can't do it."
Inflation means rents go up over time and you can pay off a loan taken out in today's dollars in tomorrows dollars. It is a very simple way to build wealth that seems to allude all of you capital gains obsessed investors. Even if the asset is worth no more in real terms - you will own something at the end that you wouldn't have had otherwise, and it will be another income stream.
