That's an excellent point, but a mortgage is not the only route to true home ownership. You could work and rent in a city with high salaries and low rent vs. purchase prices, then retire in a very cheap area where you can just buy a house with cash saved up, thereby paying no interest whatsoever on the house and keeping maximum mobility during your career.

> a city with high salaries and low rent vs. purchase prices

This is not easy to find and the market typically corrects itself over the course of a few months to a year, unless there is rent control.

Property tax is forever too.

Renters pay property taxes as well, it's just hidden from them because the landlord is a middleman. If property taxes go up, so will rents.

This is an excellent point I think people often forget about. How does property tax in a house (whose valuation you often have no control over) compare to rent?