We're going way down a rabbit trail here but... Like I said, there are times, individual circumstances, and/or locations where renting is the wiser choice. But if you exclude the outliers, and look in the aggregate over the long term, there is no question that owning is the clear winner for the (vast?) majority of folks over time. And again, for most people, their home is their largest single investment.

Like many former military, I've owned a lot of houses over the years. I've made a solid return on every single one of them except one, and that was due to the 2008 housing crash that was unlucky timing with a set of PCS orders, where I had to come up with some cash to close. Suck... After 30+ years of home ownership (and a few 80/10/10 mortgages), I've got well over half a mil equity in my 'forever' home. My Dad was also career military, and did the exact same thing - my widowed mom owns her upper middle class home outright as a result. And that's across 60+ years and coast-to-coast housing markets...

So while I agree there are individual circumstances where renting might be the better choice, exceptions (like nutty CA market) don't disprove the 'rule'.