Churn. In 1950, many if not most adults worked at one job and lived nearby in that town for their entire career. Now people jump from job to job, change careers, have their jobs outsourced or employer goes bankrupt / sells off to another corporation. People now have to be more flexible in their living arrangements to go where the work is, so renting makes sense for them.
There is always the route of going to the military after HS graduation, bank a few years, get out and purchase a home with VA loans and savings. Go to CC, get a two year degree and take mandatory classes towards a 4 year University degree, then on to University, while working part time. Every male I know did exactly that. I was the only one who screwed up, but I still ended up purchasing homes 5 times. Buy cheap, fixit up, sell it and move up to a better place. I went to work everyday, came home and worked on the place. Rented backhoes, put in gardens, garages etc. I went from a $13K POS place, to selling the last one for double what I paid. Bought another with the profit, and so on. IT IS CALLED WORK, and MARRIAGE.