Personally I am in the "don't buy in most situations" camp.
Here are some rough numbers - after 7 years (87 months) I've spent over $125,000
not including principal payments. That's property tax, homeowner's insurance, maintenance. That's closing costs and some refinancing fees. That's buying a mower, and UV bulbs and salt for my water filtration system. That's trash, sewer. And also electric and TV/internet (which would also be spent in the case of renting.) If the calculations stopped there, I'd have spent $1450 / month "thrown away" because it's not coming back! Now fortunately in my case, as a single guy, I've been able to rent out the place so I brought $66,500 back in. Plus there is the aforementioned tax deduction for mortgage interest, but that doesn't add up to a whole lot. I think my case I got at most, $2000 in tax breaks, and I think it's safe to say $1000 / year. So $7000. Not a big chunk against that $125,000, is it? And keep in mind I'm currently at just 3.375% (I started at 6.375% seven years ago.) If you stick to a 30 year loan, higher interest, it's not going to improve the numbers.
So even ignoring utilities (about $280), we're talking about $1170 / month average. I could have definitely beat that with renting (in my area, that would have easily gotten me a very modern 3 bedroom, 2 bath townhouse). And if I was renting, I wouldn't currently be commuting 20-30 minutes to work in my car each day. I'd have much more mobility. (I'd also likely have bought less stuff.)
Jim Collins sums it up pretty well -
http://jlcollinsnh.com/2013/05/29/why-your-house-is-a-terrible-investment/So while there are good reasons to buy a house, and if you do stay in one place long enough, it's financially superior, it's a very, very hard decision to undo. Selling a house takes a big chunk off the top of any equity you might build up. TL;DR
Can you say with huge amounts of certainty that the house you find will be THE PLACE you want to be living for the next 5+ years, and that when you're ready to move, you are willing to go through the home selling process and costs?