We have never rented, DH bought his first house and i moved in just before we got married. The mortgage on that place was around $500 p/f (changed with interest rates). Its was a two bedroom unit and when we got preg with number 2 we needed to make a decision about what we would do with the house as we desperately needed more room. DH is in the RAAF so we had a few options including buying another place, subsidised rent in a private rental or a defence housing property. In the end we decided to buy a bigger house which costs us more money however after we sold our unit we actually made all the money back that we would have paid in mortgage, fees etc so effectively we had lived rent free for 4 years. Its kinda made me realise that dh was right to not want to rent (he was adamant that we wouldn't and i wanted to rent instead) as in the end we were better off financially for having a mortgage than renting.