Interest is amortized in most mortgages so that this type of analysis on year 0 of homeownership is always going to look very unfavorable owing to the large int

Interest is amortized in most mortgages so that this type of analysis on year 0 of homeownership is always going to look very unfavorable owing to the large interest payments in the early years of the mortgage. You have to consider what happens over the life of a 15 or 30 year mortgage to understand the financial benefits of ownership. As the years go by, you will be paying a larger fraction toward principal while inflation has shrunken the real cost of your debt and it feels cheaper to you over time. If your wages keep up with inflation (say 3% for example), in 10 years you'll be making about 35% more dollars but your housing payment stays the same. If your home value tracks inflation, it will also be up 35% after a decade, but your payment stays the same. And if you're lucky, there may have also been appreciation above inflation. Inflation melts your fixed rate debt and grows the nominal value of your asset, speeding the rate at which you build wealth in the form of home equity. Over that same period, a renter is certain to have experienced significant increases in their housing costs. They may have saved and invested more than the homeowner over the first few years of homeownership, but as you know this is a long-term game. I guess it comes down to what form of risk/investing you are most comfortable with and whether you value the intangible lifestyle things like getting to customize things to your liking. Getting to purchase an asset with between 5-33x leverage in the form of low fixed rate debt seems like a pretty unique opportunity for most people who would not be comfortable borrowing for other forms of investment.