I have been toying with the same ideas for a couple of years, moved to Melbourne in 2014, sold my unit in Brisbane, rented for 18 months and bought a townhouse in a good neighbourhood for about 70% of my limit. Although you do get hammered on the stamp duty, home ownership has several advantages:
Guaranteed post-tax return on extra repayments
Pride of ownership and ability to do renovations as you wish
Security both of where you live and what your housing costs are (interest rate movements notwithstanding)
Tax free capital gain
Holding off from buying because you think there will be a crash is no different to loading up to the hilt because you think prices will rise. End of the day, you will need somewhere to live, and as long as you'll be there for a few years, you can't really go wrong with a quality home in a decent location. The only advantage of real estate as an investment is you can borrow big - still not enough for me to become a landlord and have to deal with all that BS. I'm not interested in retiring but will have plenty of money (and a paid off home) well and truly by the time I am in my 60s... hopefully with another 30 years of decent health ahead of me.
Because I didn't max out my borrowing if prices do collapse I can upgrade to a bigger place more cheaply, but I am on the ladder, and while renting is still theoretically cheaper than buying, if prices go up 2% a year it is breakeven, before you factor in any of the benefits I have listed above.
To answer your question, yes I will be better off, because I can upgrade more cheaply. I think the prices are pretty nuts at the moment, who would pay >$1M to live in Glen Waverley, but it's the usual story. Those who went too hard will lose everything, and people who were responsible with their borrowings will survive and prosper. I feel pretty robust, and sleep easy.
