Rents and Mortgage Payments

I've found a fellow traveler when it comes to my skepticism at the unquestioned good of home ownership. Felix Salmon, whom I've already quoted here, argues here that mortgage payments should be less than rents.

It is not the job of government to prop up house prices to the point at which mortgages cost more than prevailing rents. In fact, right now, it is entirely rational that a new mortgage should cost less than prevailing rents. Here's a few reasons why:

1. Mortgage rates are extremely low -- which means that when you come to sell the house, they'll probably be higher. Since resale value is an enormous part of the price you're willing to pay for the house, this is a very important consideration.
2. Cash is king, right now -- everybody wants liquidity. To get a mortgage, you need to make a downpayment, in cash. The opportunity cost of that downpayment has never been higher.
3. House prices rose for over a decade; they've been falling for a couple of years. It's entirely reasonable to expect them to continue to fall, whatever happens to rents, for many years yet.
4. A house, right now, is a liability, not an asset. It ties you down to one place, which makes it harder to get a good job if you become unemployed. It needs constant maintenance, it comes with obligations to pay property taxes and insurance, and, if you do end up renting it out, there's all the inevitable hassles with the renters. Without much if any expectation of house-price appreciation, why go there?