Compare buying a 605,000 property in Salt Lake City Ut at 6.5% mortgage rates against renting for 2,900/mo and investing the down payment in the S&P 500.
With a Price-to-Rent ratio of 17.4x in Salt Lake City Ut, renting + investing the 20% down payment in the S&P 500 outperforms buying unless you hold for at least 7–9 years.