There are many, many people buying homes now, the interest rates are below 4%, the property taxes have stabilized and most end up paying less for a mortgage than renting the same type of home.
Bought our first house when interest rates were 16% in 1983, after 18 years, we sold and had over $200,000 equity which we used to buy two multifamily units and an 80 acre parcel of land. 13 years later one of our units is paid off, the 80 acre parcel is paid off and the two units combined gross $100,000 a year. We are self employed so it was necessary for us to invest in real estate to help us retire, it has been an amazing blessing.
Owning a home is good for America, good for families and good for a community, I see no downside of home ownership, until you start buying toys with your equity. The above story is what I tell all young first time home owners, if you decide to take a second mortgage, only do it for remodeling or to buy another home/rental. That is where people get into trouble, they buy toys and loose everything.
If you had invested $100,000 in an S&P 500 index fund on January 1st of 1983, it would have grown to more than $2.9 million by the end of 2013 ... and that's assuming that you didn't add a single penny to your original investment.