How much equity are you actually building in the first few years of owning a home? Is the “you build equity with every mortgage payment” argument misleading?

I’m trying to better understand how home equity actually works, especially with a 30-year mortgage at today’s interest rates.
For example, let’s say:
$1M home
~$250K down payment
~$750K mortgage
30-year fixed at ~6.125%
~$4,550/month principal + interest
From what I understand, the first few years of payments are heavily weighted toward interest. So in the first month, roughly $3,800 goes toward interest while only ~$700 goes toward principal.
After 2 years, I believe you could have paid around $109K in mortgage payments but only reduced the loan balance by roughly $18–19K.
Obviously, the original down payment is already equity, and appreciation can increase equity substantially. But the interest portion of the mortgage payment doesn’t create equity at all.
So when people say “you’re building equity instead of throwing money away on rent,” how should that actually be thought about?
Am I misunderstanding something?

submitted by /u/sundrenchedwindow
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1wg8abn/how_much_equity_are_you_actually_building_in_the/