San Francisco. A house that costs $8,000 per month in rent might cost $2M to buy. At $2M that's $9,500 in mortgage payment at 6% for 30 years, about $2,800 in

San Francisco. A house that costs $8,000 per month in rent might cost $2M to buy. At $2M that's $9,500 in mortgage payment at 6% for 30 years, about $2,800 in property taxes, another $300 in insurance, and maybe assume $500 per month maintenance (over the long haul). That's ~$13,000 per month when rent is $8,000. You can knock the $1,500 per month off the mortgage payment that is paying off principle, but you'd also need to account for the opportunity cost of a $400,000 down payment at some modest return of say 4% which is ~$1,300, so it's about breakeven. The you need to account for transactions costs - all the closing fees and the 5-6% realtor fee when you sell. All in, if you rent in SF, but invest the savings from owning, you're not really far behind someone who buys, but of course it all depends on price appreciation and over what time period. That's not to say you can't get lucky and buy right before some massive price appreciation then sell and lock in the gains. But unless you have a crystal ball, you can't time that sort of stuff.