> “I was really trying to get out of where I lived,” she said. “I spent five to six months looking. All of these factors made me say, ‘OK, I have to just face it, I can’t back out.’”

There's other options beyond buying. They could've cancelled their lease, and leased a different (maybe more spacious) apartment in a different part of the city. If you can afford to buy a house, you have the capital to temporarily spend a bit more on rent to get through the pandemic. Buying is such a drastic remedy to the problem.