We built a house instead of buying one, which, even if we owned the land, cost (best estimate) approximately 40K more. Zero regrets.
We live in a super open-concept house that's EXACTLY suited to our needs, lifestyle, family, and hobbies, located exactly where we wanted to live, with amazing amounts of non-tangible benefits (grandparents nearby for babysitting, cousins nearby as friends for the kids, ponds stocked with fish for dinner, gardening space, the works). Could we have done it cheaper in a house that wasn't so well-suited to us (and then done work ourselves to make it suit better)? Yeah, probably... but in the end, after 10 years, it'd be maybe a 10K difference, and I have ZERO regrets taking that hit.