So it is often a numbers game. How much is your rent? Could you get a house you like for the same money? In my case the last time I rented, the rent was near

So it is often a numbers game. How much is your rent? Could you get a house you like for the same money? In my case the last time I rented, the rent was nearly equal to a house payment but was almost half the size. The apartment was TOO small. But with a house you have other costs - repairs - which are not seen with the apartment. A common argument is at least you are not throwing your money away. Well some usually is as it goes to interest and taxes. As such I recommend you get a serious spreadsheet out and compare the numbers. In all likelihood, if you go for a house the size of your apartment it will be a major gain to buy. Two warnings: 1) a house kind of ties you to a location. In an apartment you can move to Brisbane or Hobart easily. 2) realtors try to over sell you. Decide exactly what your limit is. Make it a hard limit. One cent over is definitely too much. And hold to it. Realtors seem to use some odd logic to get you into a housing crisis. And it always makes good sense at the time. Or only defense to their spurious logic is to have a fixed limit - I would say if it is even a penny more then I would not be able to sleep at night with worry.