Some of us get lucky and it is financially beneficial. I bought my house right before the housing market spiked so the value of my house almost tripled. It has since gone down a bit but it will be a boon if I ever sell. The rent at the apartment I was at was equal to my mortgage payment but now if I wanted to rent that apartment, it is 4x my mortgage. I also have an EXTREMELY low rate (2.5%) because of my credit.

I save almost 6 figures of money per year of owning versus renting just because of timing. I guess the moral is: get lucky or optimize your living situation for how you want to live instead of worrying about cost (unless it's huge)

Many people can make gains or even huge gains while still having the average real appreciation be negligible.