Renting is vastly cheaper than buying in many of the most expensive markets in the USA, if your only assumptions are like &quot;borrows 30 year fixed at good credit rating current rates at 80% of the value of the property&quot;.<p>Vastly. Fancy parts of LA. SF. All of New York. Pretty much anywhere in the train-serviced urban&#x2F;suburban Northeast.<p>It might not &quot;make sense&quot; but it is true.  I&#x27;m also sure it&#x27;s not the case in most markets in the USA, but in the large metropolitan markets, it is true, and that&#x27;s the point people are making when they say &quot;you know, it might make more sense to invest your investment money in a different asset class and rent rather than pay the ownership premium here in Santa Monica&#x2F;Pacific Heights&#x2F;Williamsburg&quot;