In the United States, paying your mortgage, taxes and insurance is often about the same price as paying rent (this varies with where you live of course). When you choose to put your money towards buying a house a portion of the money you pay each month goes towards paying off the principle of the loan, so you are "building equity". After 15 or 30 years you pay off the loan, then you only need to pay taxes, and insurance if you want. It makes retirement much easier if you own your own home. And in emergencies you can borrow money against your home or sell it to raise a lot of money.

You also have to pay for upkeep of your house, but an offset to that is that real estate can often increase in value over time. And the best thing is, it's your house. Pride of ownership is a real thing, it's nice to be able to do what you want, have a garden (if you have any land which many houses do), paint it how you want, add an addition, upgrade the kitchen or bathroom.

People who do not make a lot of money, but have a steady income and good credit can get a mortgage for a house they can afford, with just 10-20% down payment. But the poorest or those who do not have good credit must still rent, and even that is hard because many landlords check credit histories and want a big deposit up front.