Rent is gone to the owner, in exchange for one more month/two weeks/year/whatever frequency the payment is paid to the owner.
The opportunity cost between a mortgage and rent is not dollar for dollar (euro for euro, or whatever).
Because it's good for society if a large % of the population owns a home. I'm not advocating for more urban sprawl.
> "no one is wringing their hands about how people should be owning their home instead of renting"
What do you mean? People are desperate in e.g. Berlin, that they don't come here to HN and write in German about it doesn't mean that it's all rosy.
> "there seems to be a borderline obsession with owning a house in anglophone countries"
I'm a Spaniard living in Japan, not American, so not sure what you mean.
Amusingly enough we have rent inversions in many markets right now, rental costs are below mortgage carrying costs.
Why should society be subsidizing home ownership more than they already do?
The real estate market already discriminates against people who cannot afford a deposit (an increasing proportion of people, since house prices are increasing so rapidly), and the design of North American cities encourages urban spawl which is unsustainable with current property tax rates. [1]
> and I think to promote everyone's owning a house
Why? Half of German households rent [2] and no one is wringing their hands about how people should be owning their home instead of renting.
As someone who has lived in Europe and North America, there seems to be a borderline obsession with owning a house in anglophone countries, and I don't understand why. If the rental market is sane (e.g. rent is approximately equivalent to a mortgage) then it's up to the individual if they want to purchase a home (e.g. to renovate how they see fit) or is comfortable just renting.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nw6qyyrTeI
[2] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/04/global-percentage-ren...