That's assuming that people rent because they cannot afford a house. I rent because I don't want a house. Owning a house is a ton of additional responsibility for what would be very little to no gain for me. I don't have space requirements (no children and don't plan to have any, no spacious hobby that would require a workshop, no car that would need to be parked in a garage). I'm not saying that everyone is like me, but I'm pretty confident there are more people like me than there used to be.