A big piece of this is that 30-year mortgages in the USA are strongly subsidized and encouraged (see, mortgage interest tax deduction, loan guarantees, flood in

A big piece of this is that 30-year mortgages in the USA are strongly subsidized and encouraged (see, mortgage interest tax deduction, loan guarantees, flood insurance, sewer and road system subsidies, etc). So for a middle-class person, there's a giant incentive to buy a house as it's the next-best thing after 401k matches to 'free money'. Meanwhile, as we continue to not build housing (a trend over the last ~50 years), the price of renting continues to increase and the value of a house that you had previously bought also increases. I would rather avoid buying a house for flexibility reasons, but it just seems like such a waste when I compare against my peers who have bought property. Hopefully things change, but these are some of the reasons why it's such a good deal in Germany vs the US to rent. (granted I don't know much about the German side)