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if we had discussed this about 5 years ago, the answer to the question would have been 'go buy' However, today there are various external factors why answering this question is not so easy.

1. The real-estate market is mixed accross the country - for the most part of the country, the returns are not that great.
2. The rest of the sectors including the transporation, high-tech, retail are experiencing dull years excepting few showing stellar performance.
3. Greenback currency is becoming weaker against Euro. Its slipping slowly and speculations does not look good.

lets look at the internal factors of why answering the above question is not so easy:

1.The property appreciation is very inconsistent accross the country - Just looking at Bay area, the supposedly expensive neighborhood, there has been neighborhood that has depreciated around 10-17% while some of them have shown unneccessary appreciation.  I was speaking with my realtor about a property that was listed for $1.3M but went for $1.5M. I checked withe the Sold reports and see that it is indeed true. So, its sizzling in some place (rare) but quite everywhere its fizzling.

2. Some parts of the country are showing superb returns while most part of the country is showing lack-lustre returns.

What doe this mean?
if you buy, buy it for the pleasure for you and your family members and not expect any appreciation in the near future. See my next blog "To buy or to rent part 2" about a thumb rule and how you can decide better based on some number calculation.