Major expenses you're not including, though:

  - Property taxes
  - Hazard insurance
  - Debt service
  - Some utilities (water, trash, sometimes even heat, depending on your rental agreement)
  - Maintenance and repair of exterior and common spaces
  - Repairs and updates after you move out, and before you move in (assuming you have not been in the same apartment for 20 years)

Yes of course you're paying for these things via rent. But the owner's margin is probably much smaller than your math would imply.

The value provided to you in the owner's margin includes:

  - Flexibility of movement. Want to move at the end of your lease? No problem. (Need to sell to move? That will cost you 6% of the property sale price!)
  - The security of knowing that you will never be hit by surprise maintenance costs. $30K for a new roof? Never going to be your problem.
  - The ability to live where you want to! In many locations, there are no apartment-equivalent units for sale.