Somebody at a barbecue has already told you that renting is throwing money away.
That person has never run the math. It is a slogan wearing a math costume.
For 40 years of working life, the housing debate is about building wealth. Buy, build equity, kill the mortgage, win. Fine.
Retirement rips that framework up.
Once the paycheck stops, your house is no longer a wealth machine. It is four things at once: a monthly cash flow, a pile of frozen capital, a bet on your own mobility, and a maintenance contract you signed without reading.
Before retirement, housing is about accumulation. After retirement, housing is about cash flow, liquidity and how long you can physically use the place. Completely different question, completely different answer.
Today we run the actual numbers. Both sides. Including the costs nobody counts.