[BrainInAJar]

But that's the myth. The delta between the total costs of renting and the total cost of ownership is wide enough that you can invest it in something that has much better returns than a condo. Even owning 50% of your mortgage payment gets thrown away at interest, plus your maintenance fees, taxes and the whole bit are also lost to the sands of time.

[kazinator]

Rental buildings also pay taxes and maintenance, and have mortgages with interest. These costs are passed down to the renters. All the blood-sucking leeches are there (the government, banks, and the building itself) plus one more blood-sucking leech: the landlord.

[BrainInAJar]

That's fine, someone's getting the money, but the total cost of living there still ends up much lower than the total cost of living in an owned condo.

[kazinator]

If that is so, it means that whoever owns it is subsidizing you to live there. That owner lives somewhere else (paying a cost of living there), and also pays to make up the difference between your cost of living in the rental unit and the true cost. If so, that's a temporary situation. The rent will creep up to eventually close the gap.