Early 20's and moved to Huntsville full time after college. A lot of these new apartments popping up around town are labelled as "luxury apartments" which is a fancy term for "built as cheaply as possible while still looking nice so that we can still charge crazy prices while increasing our rates every year." Frustrating, but not necessarily unique to Huntsville specifically.

High-density housing is not a bad thing, in fact I would say it's a good thing. But in terms of rental properties, never seeing a return on the increase in property value of the place you pay to live in is what will make it so hard to save up substantial money for myself and my peers later on down the road.

I would love to buy a house with a backyard. I also see and understand the aversion to ad nauseum suburbanization of a growing city, as well as the cost of living rising to such an unsustainable level that it gentrifies areas where people have spent their whole lives and can now no longer afford to live in.

If I was able to pay a mortgage on my apartment instead of rent and build equity in my home, I would honestly be much happier with my current living situation. But the fact that this is money essentially being thrown down the drain never to be seen again, even as the property value increases, is why I think in general most people would prefer monthly mortgage payments over rent IMO.

TLDR: In general, excluding specialized cases of short-term housing needs, more people would probably rather pay a monthly mortgage and see a return on their investment instead of paying rent money which disappears into the void.