Line go down, rent go up. What do?

This is just not true for many people. A home is an asset. When paying a mortgage, you build equity that can be recouped if you decide to sell, or which can be used as collateral for another loan. When renting, you are still paying a mortgage, except is the landlord’s and you own nothing. Rent prices can also change at any time and by large amounts, forcing renters to move. The cost of owning a home is much more stable and predictable.

Homes are also typically bought with a loan and a relatively small down payment, making them a leveraged asset. Eg, if you put down 30k on a 300k house and prices increase 5%, the value of your home just went up 15k. If you instead just put 30k in stocks, you would need an increase of 50% to get the same result.

Regardless, when it comes to housing, your primary concern should always be stability and not “profitability”.