> Now that I have a mortgage, it’s much less than the rent I was paying for a similar property.
This is what my parents kept telling me would happen but no one in my late 20s social circle who've bought houses (including myself) has been able to make it happen. Even my friends who got locked in at the 2% interest rates still pay about $300 more than the equivalent rent. I live in a, by population, a top 30 city in the US and actually live in the city, not its "surrounding metro area."
Now that I have a mortgage, it’s much less than the rent I was paying for a similar property. This is the case in most developed cities on Earth.