It depends on your locale and employment situation. Many home owners are "house poor." Their only asset is their house, and they have no savings or other investments. I moved to a locale where I could make 3-4x what I could in my hometown, rented for 10 years and with investments, stock options and savings am way ahead of where I would be if I would have bought a house where I started out. My parents on the other hand are trying to sell their house for almost the same price they paid for it 15 years ago. My cousins with homes are not financially doing well at all.

If I would have had the money and foresight to buy the brownstone in Brooklyn that I was renting, I wouldn't have even had to bother with the working and saving for 10 years part, but you don't need to rub that in on a Saturday morning.