Housing is very location-dependant so that may very well be the case in your city, but not all cities are like this. Renting in my city is cheaper than a mortga

Housing is very location-dependant so that may very well be the case in your city, but not all cities are like this. Renting in my city is cheaper than a mortgage (even without accounting for property taxes). There are multiples reason that can explain this, such as local laws, popular knowledge ("renting is throwing money away!"), no understanding of opportunity cost, anything not paid on rent would be spent elsewhere, and a general lust for house. That is why it's very important to have a critical mind when evaluating a decision such a buying a property, as no two situations are the same. In some case it absolutely makes sense to buy, in others not. There's also non-financial reasons for buying, but discussions like this is strictly about financial reasoning.