"I'd estimate that the point at which my hypothetical lifetime expenditure on owning a house drops below my hypothetical lifetime expenditure on renting would c

"I'd estimate that the point at which my hypothetical lifetime expenditure on owning a house drops below my hypothetical lifetime expenditure on renting would come a decade or so after the point at which I can expect to die." Can you share some of the numbers you used to get to that conclusion? I've done similar estimates in my (high cost-of-living) city, and even with pretty conservative estimates of property value growth the payoff is much sooner. Yes, the mortgage payments are more than rent for a comparable home, but the interest (plus estimated taxes, maintenance, etc) is somewhat less than rent. I'd guess one of the following is true: * you are assuming stock market returns will significantly outstrip growth in your housing market, even considering leverage * you don't have access to tax breaks on mortgage payments * you are much older than 30 * you live in an area where home prices are wildly inflated beyond what rents would predict