[philwelch]

If you get a mortgage, you have to pay rent on money instead of paying rent on housing. And then you have to pay for the housing on top of that. And then invest your spare time maintaining a house, which is a better hobby than TV but not for everyone. If you take all that time and money and commitment and invest it in something other than a house, then you can probably rent an apartment and still come out just as rich in the long run.

Also, if you rent apartments for 10 years you can spend 10 years moving around to follow opportunities. If you pay a mortgage for 10 years, you can look forward to spending the next 20 paying the same mortgage, and unless you want to pay for housing twice, living in the same place. Standard mortgages are 30 years! That's maybe half of your adult life you have to spend paying interest. That's a level of commitment comparable to having a damn kid, except instead of a living and thinking person it's a material possession.

[oinopion]

Most of my friends (in Poland) spend monthly less for mortgage than they would on rent. It seams that housing/mortgage market here is very different.

[gaius]

Same here in England. If you have the deposit and plan to stay for a few years, then buying makes economic sense.

Plus, owning your own home, even if there's a mortgage outstanding, feels very different to renting. Certainly for the English, home-ownership is a cultural value.

[philwelch]

It's a cultural value to Americans, too. That's how we got into a bubble and then a recession--it was such a cultural value people tried to become homeowners even if it made no financial sense at all.