When I was in college, renting made sense. I wasn't going to be there but like two years. I wouldn't have hardly accumulated any equity and had the pain of trying to sell at the end.

I've known people with like two year work assignments where renting made sense.

I cannot fathom it, but I have a coworker who swears by renting even though he hasn't moved in years and has no intention to move ever. I think the 'mantaining your own house is scary' articles hit him hard and he's now convinced that owning a household means you are somehow constantly having to fix things yourself for lots of money. So he may have been bamboozled, but certainly limited term living makes sense.