I got tired of renting, and I looked it up, I realized I'm paying the equivalent of a $300k property for a standard 30-year mortgage in rent. And a $300k house is much nicer than my apartment.
I saw a $50k condo down the road from me. It looks not quite as good as my current apartment. Getting a mortgage for something like that is much better than renting, right?
Financially, if you can afford to put together a down payment, it's almost certainly a better deal. Rent and a 30 year mortgage tend to be similar monthly payments, but you actually get some of the mortgage money back if you sell (and stop having to pay at all if you live there 30 years). The biggest downside is a little more hassle on the way in, and some weird financial logistics on the way out if you want to buy another one. There's also the risk of the house price crashing, but you can always go bankrupt.
Ideologically, it makes you beholden to a bank, and those are evil. But landlords are even more evil, and probably have a mortgage on the place anyway, so it's not like you're winning something by avoiding the bank.