>In the UK at least a mortgage tends to work out about half the price of renting in my experience It depends where you live. It is only in London that house pr

>In the UK at least a mortgage tends to work out about half the price of renting in my experience It depends where you live. It is only in London that house prices have risen to silly heights compared to income, so I assume that is what the article is referring to: http://moneystepper.com/property/rental-income-vs-house-prices-uk/ http://moneystepper.com/property/rental-income-vs-house-pric... If you look at rental yields in the above graph, they have been sharply dropping in London in recent years. This makes sense if people are buying houses as investments: unless they're going to be sitting empty, they will be rented out and that will increase supply and reduce demand. Essentially these London real-estate investors are subsidising cheap rents. So it's really a great way to save money by renting instead of buying, and investing your money in the stock market instead. >If I had a family, lost my job, and was renting instead of owning/paying a mortgage, I would be on the street much, much quicker Nope. If you were sensible you would put the money you saved by renting into investments, and you would have at least a year of runway before being on the streets. With a mortgage (assuming your mortgage is higher than rent, and you can't save much) you will have about 90 days before being kicked out. >At least when I lived in Northern Ireland I didn't know anyone who commuted more than 60 mins to work and these people also owned houses in the suburbs. Belfast is completely different to London in terms of commuting. Also, house prices haven't gone up the same way they have in London.