If you figure in the whole amount of owning it is now over double that of renting an equivalent place.
It was generally true that renting was about half of “owning” in 2005. However, with home prices down 15-25% in many areas and rents having gone up at least 5% in the past two years you need to update your pat phrase. It is no longer half in many places. For places that I follow it now costs about 2/3 to 3/4 as much to rent as to “own”.
