Compare buying a 380,000 property in El Paso Tx at 6.5% mortgage rates against renting for 1,800/mo and investing the down payment in the S&P 500.
With a Price-to-Rent ratio of 17.6x in El Paso Tx, renting + investing the 20% down payment in the S&P 500 outperforms buying unless you hold for at least 7–9 years.