> Meanwhile, my parents and their friends are leveraged to the hilt in housing, carrying mortgages that they will definitely not be able to pay off before retir

> Meanwhile, my parents and their friends are leveraged to the hilt in housing, carrying mortgages that they will definitely not be able to pay off before retirement. Are those mortgages more than rent in the city would be? At least in my area, there are literally zero apartments of any size for a rent that is less than my mortgage payment in a ~1700 square foot house. I mean, it's not like you get to stop paying rent when you retire, either, and you don't have any equity renting.