When doing these rent vs buy comparisons people often neglect the opportunity cost of investing the down payment and any difference between rent and mortgage (if it exists)

Rule of thumb according to [0] is that, assuming historical returns, if your yearly rent is less than 5%

(1% maintenance + 1% property tax + 3% capital cost vs investing)

of the property value it's better* to rent.

[0] https://youtu.be/Uwl3-jBNEd4?si=FDRG-6U_T4nsGtJa

*local tax treatment might play a role

**paying a mortgage requires less discipline than consistently investing during volatile markets

***Purely from a financial, non-emotional standpoint

****you might not be able to rent the house you want to buy