[looprecur]

Renting in general (cars, housing) is one of those things that people want other people to do, but not for themselves, at least not on things they consider important. For example, if you rent textbooks, you give them up at the end of the semester... but a lot of people want to have them around for years later.

An example is that, following the housing crisis, people quipped about how all "those people" who were taking out bad mortgages should have been renting instead of buying their homes, and there are a lot of arguments for why renting is superior to ownership for real estate (repairs done by professionals, more mobility, etc). But few people actually want to live by this. They'll gladly rent in their 20s when they're starting out, but they want to own the house they raise their children in.

[MichaelSalib]

They'll gladly rent in their 20s when they're starting out, but they want to own the house they raise their children in.

I'm not sure that's really true. The rental and purchase markets tend to offer different products in most places. So while you can find studio rentals easily, you can't find rentals for a family of 5 nearly as easily.

Also, in the US, we tend to only see short term lease options for residential renting (say 12 months). But as you get older and get children, the cost of moving begins to rise. You've got a lot more stuff and your friends are older and busier and less inclined to blow a day helping schlep your stuff. So I think part of what older married people with children are buying when they buy a house is freedom from having to worry that they'll suddenly have to scramble to find a new place and then actually move.