The numbers I shared in my post are from some basic math! Over 5 years, you spend more money, even if it appreciates by 5% when you sell it. This is because $170k of your mortgage payments went to interest alone, not to mention HOA fees, property tax, mortgage insurance, and maintenance.

Unless the house appreciates a lot very fast, or you have very low interest rates, it’s very unlikely that a house in these cities ($650k, for example) will make you money at all in the mid-term, let alone beat renting.