Not everyone wants to live somewhere long enough to pay off a place though. It’s no different than other financial choices. The best decision for the individual isn’t always the most rational.
I've prioritized finding the smallest and most affordable apartment I can in an area that I want to live in (very nice walkable/bikeable non-rust-belt city).
For the past ~12 years my rent has been less than 33% of the mortgage payments for the smallest home in my area (not including property taxes and other costs of homeownership).
Investment gains on what I've saved are good enough for me to feel like I can keep renting relatively comfortably until I die. What else do I need?
I will concede that if you're comparing renting and buying equivalent properties that buying generally makes financial sense. But that's not what I'm doing.
If you concede that buying makes sense when comparing like for like, why not do that?
Buy a tiny studio apartment of the size you prefer and then you can own it.
If you're comparing rent on a tiny apartment to mortgage on a larger single family home, of course the tiny apartment is cheaper. It doesn't conclude that renting is cheaper, only concludes that a tiny apartment is cheaper than a house.