Exactly. Someone buying a home for a million dollars typically isn’t buying that from scratch. They sell an existing home, roll their equity into the new property and trade up. People can argue forever if real estate is a good investment (relative to other investments) but on the home you live in if you rent your whole life you get nothing at retirement. If you own you do slowly but surely build up a real asset over time.

The best argument for owning in a given market over the long term is that if you rent you’re only winning if the landlord is losing money. The whole reason the landlord is renting to you is that you more than cover the cost of owning the property.