> That almost certainly isnt the case at first
Agreed, at first the monthly cost of ownership is likely higher than rent. But my quoted comment was about retirement age, which is at the tail end, not at first.
It doesn't take long for rent to catch up and from there on rent will forever go up while the mortgage will either stay fixed or only go down via refinances. Even if refinancing doesn't work (in a rising rate market like right now) the mortgage is effectively going down via inflation while rents keep up with inflation.
In my case the first year of ownership was fairly painful as the cost was much higher than previous rent (although for a nicer place). By the second year was able to refinance so it wasn't bad anymore. By the third year, with rents rising, my mortgage was already about par with local rents.
Ever since then, rents have gone up massively (about 4x-5x) and my mortgage has only gone down (today about 30% of the inital monthly payment in absolute dollars, or effectively only about 15% considering inflation).
Most importantly, it will be paid off before I retire so once I'm on a limited fixed income that's one monthly cost I won't have to worry about. Having seen some forever-renter extended family reach retirement age with rising rents, it's a sad and painful situation.
My advice to anyone is that unless you hate your future self, buy a house in your 30s if at all possible.
