Sadly the case in a lot of places is the difference is control over your environment, or simply stability. In a lot of places your rights as a renter are so bad you can basically do nothing to improve the place you live, and even if you were allowed you would be foolish to do so because then your landlord could just kick you out or hike up the rent (and might just do that anyway). (where I live even multi-year tenants are frequently forbidden from putting up pictures on the walls, let alone repainting them, FFS). In places with proper rental rights, rent vs buy is a lot less clear-cut, especially if prices don't have much room to go up any further (buying only looks like a non-brainer financially in the past decade's environment of extreme price increases, or if you fail to consider opportunity costs. Even if you can afford to buy a house, it's not necessarily the best use of your money, but the non-financial side can be a really big part of why people go for it anyway).