買了房，就一定會(huì)幸福嗎

A growing body of research suggests that spending money on real estate doesn’t necessarily mean investing in contentment. Indeed, the conventional advice to cut back on vacations, restaurant meals and other extras in order to save money for a home may actually be detrimental to felicity. Experts in happiness — an increasingly popular field focused on the scientific understanding of emotional well-being — say that people are happier when they spend money on experiences instead of material goods, whether it be a new car or a bigger apartment.

有越來越多的研究表明，往房地產(chǎn)里砸錢，并不等同于為日后的滿足投資。實(shí)際上，加班加點(diǎn)、節(jié)衣縮食地?cái)€錢買房，可能會(huì)讓人的幸福感大打折扣。幸福學(xué)專家(幸福學(xué)是目前一個(gè)日益火爆的領(lǐng)域，著眼于對情感健康的科學(xué)理解)表示，人在購置新車、置換大房屋這類物質(zhì)消費(fèi)上獲得的幸福感，并不如花錢買體驗(yàn)來得多。

“People are making so many trade-offs in order to have that home,” said Elizabeth Dunn, an associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia who studies consumerism and happiness. She recently explored the impact of housing on people’s happiness while compiling studies for a new book, “Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending,” which she wrote with Michael Norton, who teaches at the Harvard Business School.

“人們?yōu)榱速I房子付出了太多犧牲，”不列顛哥倫比亞大學(xué)(University of British Columbia)的心理學(xué)副教授伊麗莎白·杜恩(Elizabeth Dunn)表示。杜恩的研究領(lǐng)域是消費(fèi)主義與幸福的關(guān)系。最近，她與哈佛商學(xué)院的邁克爾·諾頓(Michael Norton)合著了一本新書《快樂消費(fèi)：更加明智的消費(fèi)科學(xué)》(Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending)。為著此書，她在調(diào)研時(shí)，探討了住宅對人的幸福感造成的影響。

The recession forced many people to curb their spending habits and re-evaluate their overall lifestyles. But after saving money for years, buyers encouraged by low mortgage rates are re-entering the housing market. They find the pickings slim. In Manhattan, the number of apartments for sale for the second quarter was at a 13-year low, stoking competition and driving up prices.

本輪經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退迫使很多人改變了過去的消費(fèi)習(xí)慣，重新審視自己的生活方式。然而，在存了很多年錢后，他們受到低按揭利率的激勵(lì)，又開始重新進(jìn)入房地產(chǎn)市場。之后，他們卻發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的選擇相當(dāng)有限。在曼哈頓，今年二季度的待售公寓數(shù)量已降至十三年來的低谷，激發(fā)起買家的競爭，導(dǎo)致房價(jià)飆升。

Now there is research like Dr. Dunn’s, emphasizing that when it comes to your overall happiness, “there are a lot of better things you could be putting your money toward” than real estate.

無獨(dú)有偶，還有與杜恩類似的研究，得出了這樣的結(jié)論：如果放眼于個(gè)人的整體幸福，比房地產(chǎn)“更值得投資的東西多了去了”。

This isn’t necessarily bad news in a place like New York City, where nearly 70 percent of the housing stock is rentals. And it may offer some solace to frustrated buyers facing bidding wars and all-cash offers they simply can’t top.

對于生活在紐約市的人來說，這也未必是個(gè)壞消息。畢竟，全紐約市有70%的房屋是用來出租的。同樣，對于買房者來說，這個(gè)消息或許也能帶來些許心理安慰，畢竟他們已經(jīng)被競價(jià)大戰(zhàn)弄得焦頭爛額，就算是全現(xiàn)金支付，也總有出價(jià)更高的。

“People still view housing as a central component of happiness and a critical aspect of the American dream,” Dr. Dunn said. “But there is little research to support that.”

“在人們的眼里，住宅依然是幸福感的重要來源和美國夢的重要方面，”杜恩表示，“但是，很少有研究結(jié)果支持這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)。”

A 2011 study of about 600 women in Ohio found that homeowners weren’t any happier than renters. The study was conducted by Grace Wong Bucchianeri, then an assistant professor of real estate at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Indeed, homeowners spent less time on leisure activities with friends and reported that they derived some pain from homeownership. What exactly caused that pain wasn’t indicated in the study, but financial experts say that people who make the leap from renting to buying can be caught off guard by the nuts and bolts.

2011年，時(shí)任賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)(University of Pennsylvania)沃頓商學(xué)院(Wharton School)助理教授的格蕾絲·王·布奇艾勒瑞(Grace Wong Bucchianeri)進(jìn)行了一項(xiàng)研究，她走訪了俄亥俄州內(nèi)大約600名女性后發(fā)現(xiàn)，有房族并不比租房客更幸福。事實(shí)上，有房族在休閑會(huì)友上花的時(shí)間更少，他們還表示，買房也給他們造成了一定的痛苦。研究報(bào)告中并沒有說明造成這種痛苦的確切原因，但是金融專家表示，人們從租房客晉升為有房族以后，可能會(huì)被打理家庭的瑣事弄得焦頭爛額。

“The reality of maintenance and repairs, and being ‘house rich but cash poor,’ can negate much of the perceived happiness people may have had about homeownership,” said Greg McBride, the senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com. Even if a low mortgage rate means you spend less each month than you did when renting, upkeep can drain a bank account faster than a leaking water heater.

“買房以后要費(fèi)一番功夫保養(yǎng)、維護(hù)，而且房子是養(yǎng)起來了，錢包卻癟了，人的預(yù)期幸福感會(huì)大打折扣，”Bankrate.com網(wǎng)站的高級金融分析師格雷格·麥克布萊德(Greg McBride)說。就算按揭利率很低，算起來每個(gè)月用來還款的錢還沒有租房時(shí)交的房租多;但購房者用在房屋保養(yǎng)上的各項(xiàng)支出，也會(huì)使他們的銀行積蓄流失得比一只漏水的龍頭還要快。

What about the pleasure of living in a beautiful house in a coveted neighborhood? In a delightful screed posted in May on Medium.com, an online publishing site, Lindsey M. Green, a publicist for start-up and technology companies, writes about how even a lovely town house in a sought-after neighborhood can be a letdown.

那么要是所住的房子漂亮又舒適，小區(qū)環(huán)境也得天獨(dú)厚，是不是就能讓人滿足了呢?今年5月，在線出版平臺(tái)Medium.com上登載了一篇?dú)g樂的長文。作者是專為創(chuàng)業(yè)公司和科技企業(yè)做宣傳推廣的林賽·M·格林(Lindsey M. Green)。這篇文章告訴我們，為何就算是在一個(gè)熱門小區(qū)里找到一套舒適的聯(lián)排別墅，住進(jìn)去之后也可能失望透頂。

Ms. Green moved to New York City in 2003 and sublet what she described as a “cramped, cheap, Far West Village studio.” She moved eight times within Manhattan over the course of nearly 10 years, even as her friends decamped for Brooklyn and sang its praises. “I was happy as could be as the last dinosaur in Manhattan,” she wrote.

格林在2003年搬到紐約市，逃離了她所說的“廉價(jià)而擁擠不堪的遠(yuǎn)西村(Far West Village)工作室”。她在曼哈頓住了將近10年，期間搬過8次家。就算身邊的朋友一個(gè)個(gè)都搬到了布魯克林，并且大肆贊美搬家后的生活，她也依然不為所動(dòng)。“作為朋友圈里堅(jiān)守在曼哈頓的最后一只‘恐龍’，我卻樂得自在，”她寫道。

In 2011 she moved to a two-bedroom two-bath in South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan with her then-boyfriend, now fiancé, Lockhart Steele, the founder of Curbed.com. But in October 2012, flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy forced them to evacuate. So with all of the hype that Brooklyn was getting, they jumped at a six-month sublet in a newly renovated Cobble Hill town house.

2011年，她同當(dāng)時(shí)的男友、現(xiàn)在的未婚夫——Curbed.com網(wǎng)站創(chuàng)始人洛克哈特·斯蒂爾(Lockhart Steele)把家搬到了曼哈頓下城的南街海港(South Street Seaport，曼哈頓的一處歷史街區(qū)，毗鄰金融區(qū)——譯注)的一套兩室兩衛(wèi)的房子里?？上Ш镁安婚L，2012年10月，颶風(fēng)桑迪(Hurricane Sandy)引發(fā)的洪災(zāi)迫使他們不得不撤離曼哈頓。就這樣，他們來到久負(fù)盛名的布魯克林，滿懷期待地搬進(jìn)了科布爾山(Cobble Hill)的一座翻新的聯(lián)排別墅里。

“I could feel all the magazine headlines becoming my reality,” she wrote. “All of the ‘Best of New York’ picks in Brooklyn would suddenly make so much sense. I could become one of those people talking about how much better her life was, now that I finally made the move to Brooklyn.”

“我都能感覺到，以往只能在雜志頭條上看到的東西正在變?yōu)槲疑钪械默F(xiàn)實(shí)，”她寫道，“都說‘紐約最好的東西’都集中在布魯克林，這下我算是見識(shí)到了?？偹惆岬搅瞬剪斂肆謥恚乙部梢猿蔀槟切┏商齑祰u自己搬家之后生活有多么好的人當(dāng)中的一員了。”

She hated it. “Moving to Brooklyn, even into a four-story town house on a beautiful block, in a neighborhood everyone loves,” she wrote, “didn’t make our lives better; it made our quality of life worse.” It didn’t matter that she was living in a lovely home — she missed the bustle of Manhattan and the sense of belonging she had felt there. As she put it: “Manhattan — its absurd inconveniences, annoyances, high rents, crowded bars and tourist-packed streets — is my yoga.”

結(jié)果，布魯克林并不是她的菜。“搬到布魯克林以后，縱使我們住的地方是一個(gè)四層的聯(lián)排別墅，街區(qū)環(huán)境優(yōu)美，小區(qū)人人喜愛，”她寫道，“我們的生活也沒有變好;確切地說，生活質(zhì)量反而下降了。”雖然她住的地方條件很好，但這已經(jīng)不重要了——她想念熙熙攘攘的曼哈頓，覺得在那里生活有歸屬感。用她的話來說：“曼哈頓——及其中各類令人發(fā)指的不便、糟心事、高房租，人滿為患的酒吧和大街上比肩繼踵的游客——就是我的瑜伽修行。”