Really surprised to hear this - especially the financial thing. Given the real estate market, owning vs renting is a no-brainer to me... especially since I now own my home. No monthly payment, and I have a 6 figure asset after 20 years of paying. If I had been renting, I'd have no asset and still be making monthly payments. Considering my house has gone up in value by about 2.5x, it's a no-brainer. As a long-term investment, there isn't much more of a sure thing than property (by-and-large)
Historically, real estate values pretty much match inflation, so while things are good now, they won't be forever. I'm paying 3.375% interest on a home that I can expect to gain about 3% a year on average in value over the next 30 years. Add in the maintenance costs, taxes, insurance, upgrades, etc, and it's easy to see why homes are not as great an investment as people want you to think they are.
On my ~$250k home, I will pay about $600k in mortgage, taxes, insurance, etc (not including annual increases in taxes and insurance which of course will happen). I will also put in about 1% of the value of the home annually for maintenance, repairs, upgrades, etc. every year on average, so I will spend another $120,000 on that over 30 years (which I think is probably low given the cost of a new roof or siding). So now I've paid at least $720k for a house that I can expect to be worth about $600k in 30 years if I get average property value increases. By any other investment standards, I've lost money on my investment. But I need a place to live, and ending up with $600k in value in my home isn't too shabby either.
Which isn't to say it's not the right decision for a lot of other reasons. You'll probably come out ahead buying over renting and investing the difference in the stock market (which hardly anyone would do anyway) unless rentals are really cheap in your area or you plan on moving a lot. But I'm hesitant to say a home is a good investment. It's necessary to have a place to live and buying can be the better option, but it's not for everyone.
My math or some of the assumptions may be off by a bit, but the point remains. You'll likely get less out of your house than you put in it over the long term.