> why would you pay 1400$ for a 1 bedroom apartment when you could pay 700$ in a mortgage for that same apartment if you could have bought it

Because the down payment you put into your purchased home could've been put into the stock market and grown faster than property values (this is historically true).

Because you don't want the headache of home maintenance.

Because in the 21st century, job stability doesn't exist so it's a big risk to buy a home fifteen minutes from your current job that might be an hour from your new job after you get fired so a CEO can get more golden parachutes.

Because you might have to change cities a year from now.

My wife and I rented for a long time because it was better than owning for us.

Agreed. It’s a classic fallacy to compare rent vs mortgage on a numbers to numbers basis. It’s classic example of not accounting for the total cost of ownership.