I really disagree with this. We have been home owners from early on in our adult life. We have always bought houses, done them up and then moved on to build the equity.

On our more recent move to a new country we rented for about 18 months and it was a god awful period. Overpriced rent (living in a high demand alpine resort) and very limited choice, and attempting to do that with 2 kids and 2 dogs was not easy. We were so happy to finally be back being home owners.

This time though we will capitalise on our location and part of our house will eventually be rented out and will cover our mortgage costs.

So it really depends on how you do it, but I personally will never go back to renting for as long as I can help it.