The most expensive thing that most people will buy is a house.
Houses are very expensive in Australia, just saving a 20% deposit for an average Australian property will buy you a whole house in most other countries.
ASX banks like Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) and National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) love the fact they lend out large loans to borrowers.
I think a perfectly logical thing to consider is: Should you sell ASX shares to fund your house deposit?
I firmly believe that (ASX) shares are the best way to grow your wealth over the long-term, so theoretically shares could be used to accelerate your deposit towards the required 20% of a house price.
However, there are two major problems with this idea.
The first is that whilst the share market is the best growth engine over the long-term, it can be very volatile in the short run. You have no idea what the share market is going to do tomorrow, next week, next month or next year.
Your ASX shares might do well in 2019 and 2020 but if you need the deposit in 2021 you may find the share market crashes precisely when you need the money. We can never know when a crash will happen so unless you're willing to delay a house purchase then share values may not be reliable when you need it.
The other reason is that selling shares could be a problem is taxation. Assuming you've done quite well with your shares you would likely have to pay tax on gains you've made, reducing your funds. It also hurts your ability to compound your money. For the sake of your wealth, you don't want to give more to the taxman than is necessary.
Foolish takeaway
Whilst theoretically you could get to a house deposit faster if you used shares instead of cash, I think it's best to save up cash in a savings account and earn interest along the way.
