The market is what determines how it is viewed, not the homeowner.
When auto market hit supply constraints during the pandemic, the used car market got bought up and people started investing in cars to flip. There is no escaping "viewed as an investment" in a supply constrained market.
This is true, except we've allowed homeowners to control the supply.
Imagine used car dealers lobbied to make new cars impossible to build/sell. Of course their prices would go up! Homeowners happily lobby and vote for policies that make it difficult to build new supply, to protect their own investments. We need to break that loop and allow the market to actually build supply and rein in prices.
When auto market hit supply constraints during the pandemic, the used car market got bought up and people started investing in cars to flip. There is no escaping "viewed as an investment" in a supply constrained market.