>> but at least with mortgage payments you're paying off your loan, not someone else's! As an example, if you're looking in the Sydney CBD you could easily be

>> but at least with mortgage payments you're paying off your loan, not someone else's! As an example, if you're looking in the Sydney CBD you could easily be borrowing ~$400K (or more). At interest rates of 6% a year initially you'd be paying $24K/year or approximately $460/week to the bank. At least for the first few years you'll be paying almost the equivalent of rent to the bank just to service the loan, in addition to the repayments off the principal.