[thechao]

I know this isn't true everywhere, but the last time I did a similar calculation, based on the historic rate of rents increase in my area, buying the house, then just walking away at the end of 30 years was cheaper than rent.

[adricnet]

This is actually sometimes the case, though please double-check your analyses before committing to outliers or "betting the farm". Since it does happen and can work for some people / some places it certainly complicates the simplified dichotomy presented in the OP and this topic.