I've been sick the last few days and to pass time I watched a Video from Geopolitical Economy Report, where he states that about 8 percent of the US GDP (I know that that measurement is shit, but it's still the most used one) is attributed to imputed rent from owner-occupied housing and therefor bullshit.
I tried to read up a little on the topic because I have trouble believing that such a bogus figure is included in the GDP, because it doesn't add value. Everything you do in your own home is not work that 'benefits' the economy and if you hire contractors or buy materials it's already included in the GDP. Though the reading material I found is either full of jargon or skips this question.
So now I hope that someone knowledgeable can clarify this: is this rent imputation really just padding for the GDP or does it server another purpose?
Material I used:
- Why does GDP include imputations? (bea.gov link)
- Imputing Rents to Owner-Occupied Housing by Directly Modelling Their Distribution (bea.gov link, abstract of paper, leads to pdf)
- Imputing Rent (NATO-Pedia link)
And footnote: It's very telling, that capitalist countries view rent as an important part of their economy 
Thanks for your reply! I think that my misunderstanding comes down to the definition of value used here. In my understanding LTV does not directly see value in living in a house (but in construction+upkeep). In contrast STV could explain that someone is meeting their own demand and with that does something for the GDP.
Another thing I don't really get about rent imputing is that an over-valued housing market drives up the GDP even more, without adding anything new
I'm definitely not an expert on this but it sounds like you get it just fine :D