> People rarely buy with a purely rational investment mindset; they buy based on lifestyle and emotion.

> If you bought a home equivalent to the apartment you’d rent, or a slight downgrade, you might come out ahead financially over five years.

This is really the key point. Everyone I've known personally who buys a home does so with the intent to "upgrade" their lifestyle. Even if they were perfectly content before in their 1000 sq ft 2 bedroom apartment, they aren't content purchasing the same size home. Instead they upgrade to a 1700 sq ft 3 bedroom home, or larger, because after all owning a home is supposed to feel better than just renting an apartment. In financial terms, they are worse off, but maybe they are happier with their spending (I'd hope).

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cramsession a day ago | parent [-]

If they want children, they’ll need more room. Same if you want/need a home office or to move an elderly parent in. I wouldn’t really classify those things as “feeling nice”, more going through natural life stages that renting a 2 bd may retard.

	▲	jokethrowaway 20 hours ago \| parent [-]
		We have kids, we're a bit crammed in our current place and we're building a 3x bigger and much nicer place. Location is a small LCOL country in Europe with high foreign income. So, I see your point about naturally needing more room with kids, but there is also a lifestyle upgrade factor for us. We would be comfortable with 2x the space and without modern / luxury finish, spending less than half. The rent I pay now is 1/12 of the rent I would get charged on the property I'm building. I'm happy paying my current rent, but I would never rent a fancy property and spend all that money with no equity, even if it would be less than 30% of my monthly income.