Nikhil Kamath buys his 1st home, says 'there's one disadvantage with renting that you don't have...'

After previously advocating for renting over buying, Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath has revealed that he has finally bought a house.

In the latest episode of his podcast, "WTF is with Nikhil Kamath," Kamath revisited the rent vs. buy debate with notable guests: Irfan Razack, Chairman & MD of Prestige Group, Nirupa Shankar, Executive Director at Brigade Group, and Karan Virwani, CEO of WeWork India.

Nikhil Kamath, who is widely known for favoring renting a house over buying one, highlighted one significant drawback of renting.

“The thing with renting, of all the advantages of renting, there is one disadvantage: you don’t have foresight as to when you can move out of the house. I had to move out of this house, whereas I might have liked to stay longer in this house,” he explained.

When Nirupa Shankar asked whether buying a house adds to his financial strength, Kamath expressed his dislike for the illiquid nature of real estate.

"I feel something like gold can give that to me. I hate the illiquid nature of real estate. Places like this have fewer buyers, and if 10 people decide to sell, the price goes haywire and becomes very arbitrary. In comparison, the stock market has more participants. If a million people decide to sell a stock, it will make a significant difference," he said.

Paying stamp duty on the price of property

Kamath also talked about his displeasure over paying stamp duty that the government levies on the price of the property. "In stock market, I can buy and sell without paying 5% to 6% stamp duty," he said.