The question is answered in specific, not in general. Is the rate you are offered good enough to offset the potential decline in equity? Remember that if the ho

The question is answered in specific, not in general. Is the rate you are offered good enough to offset the potential decline in equity? Remember that if the house loses 10% of its value, your downpayment does not somehow appreciate - essentially every month you pay some portion of each payment for equity that only the bank has / you cannot recover. That said, if the rate is attractive and you have a long time horizon which you can predict reliably, then you might still find the rate attractive. if you plan to sell over the next 5 years though, it may be better to rent and negotiate lower rents if housing prices fall. Alternatively, if you have a specific use for a house that requires you to own, consider whether that use is worth a premium of homeownership. (e.g. you have a woodworking business and need space that is hard to rent, or you have kids that need to go to a specific school district) Timing the market is a bad idea, having contingencies for the eventuality that your timing was wrong is a good idea. so, build the cost of the contingencies into your model. Finally, don't get into a false dichotomy of rent vs buy. it is better to think about the total sum on the table for either option and how you'd like to allocate it. e.g. you could just buy a smaller house, or rent a bigger one. Or, rent as cheaply as possible and buy gold, or bootstrap a small business. remember to enumerate all possible capital allocations before getting trapped in the choice between just rent vs buy.