Why do they need to buy a house at all? Where is there this need? Renting for life works well in many other cities around the world why can't it work here? 

Manhattan
London
Paris
Hong Kong
pretty much every major European city

We seem to have this societal pressure that people need to buy a home to succeed in life. And for the people who answer that owning a home is a good use of money (investment?) then you are hypocritical since the housing market is high due to investment.