That's one common reason for renting, not the only one.

I've rented trailers and various tools before too, not because I couldn't afford to buy them, but because I knew I wouldn't need them after the fact and wouldn't know what to do with them after.

You could never afford a hyperscaler size data center. You could always just buy a server and stick it into Colo. it’s just not totally the same thing

I can't afford the ram and storage in the server anymore though. So it kinda is the same thing.

Rent vs own isn’t the issue then. It’s the cost of the underlying asset.

I also couldn't afford to rent one.

I can afford to rent fractional use of one, but by that token I could also afford to buy a very small fraction of one too.

Is this true? I'm trying to think of a solid example and I'm drawing blanks.

Apartments aren't really comparable to houses. They're relatively small units which are part of a larger building. The better comparison would be to condominiums, but good luck even finding a reasonably priced condo in most parts of the US. I'd guess supply is low because there's a housing shortage and it's more profitable to rent out a unit as an apartment than to sell it as a condo.

It seems to me that most people rent because 1) they only need the thing temporarily or 2) there are no reasonable alternatives for sale.

Check out the furniture rental industry. Car rental (lease) industry. Electronics rental industry.

Lots of people rent houses, it’s not just apartments.

And even ~40% of so-called homeowners rent money in order to be there.

or just not ready for commitment (try first, buy later, etc...)