I'm really not sure what you are saying here. "Your $1000 per month rent can only be compared with the interest part of a mortgage you'd get for the exact same

I'm really not sure what you are saying here. "Your $1000 per month rent can only be compared with the interest part of a mortgage you'd get for the exact same housing you are paying rent for. If the rent is less than the interest would be, then yes, you are better off renting." Why just the mortgage interest? Why not the property taxes, the utilities, the repair costs, the time to perform the upkeep and maintenance (which for me has a monetary value). I have been renting where I am at for 14 years now and there have been no crazy rent hikes. It was ~800/mo 14 years ago and has climbed slowly to ~1000/mo currently. I have looked many times at buying a home in my area, but there is nothing in a similar area, and a nice house that I would actually want to own for less than about 2000/mo for a mortgage (probably more like 2500/mo now). That doesn't even count property taxes which would be like another 500/mo. Then, if I value my time, I would need to pay someone to do the mowing and shoveling and other maintenance beyond that... It's way more expensive than renting. With renting I'm paying about $12,000 a year and that's it. That includes water and heat too and me not having to spend any time or money on upkeep or maintenance. With all the money I save, I do multi-family real-estate investing and development. That generates me a passive income plus huge deductions from asset and property depreciation. And when the property is improved and sold after several years nets a large gain which I move into a new property thus not having to pay taxes on that transaction either. The return on this is far greater than the average rate of a home appreciation minus mortgage interest.