another thing regarding 'rent vs mortgage' is that people should consider not having property be their first investment. it's much cheaper to make higher risk:reward investments that could massively boost your income before anchoring yourself in mediocrity with 30yr fixed attachment to a bank. obviously, priority #1 is mass deportations and seizing of foreign owned assets but i think we have a serious financial culture problem. it should be more attractive to be an entrepreneur or to start a small business than it is to own property, people should be incentivized to be inventive rather than forced to be productive. it is possible to open up some (eg) juice stall with $10k savings that makes up to $200k per year. if you're young you should rent, do this, save and then buy cheap rural property outright and then enjoy freedom
Australia