I don't know how old you are but we started by buying whatever we could afford, even if it wasn't the long term place we wanted to live.
It gets you going in two ways.
1) Enforced savings. The money you put into the mortgage over and above the interest is there for you one day in the future. We put money into the mortgage at every opportunity and only occasionally had to re-draw. These days with mortgage offset it is easier but also easier to get at the money, more discipline required.
2) Whatever the people on here tell you, property prices WILL rise. In five years not only will you have made significant inroads into the mortgage but you will also have benefited from the tax-free capital gains. Something no renter will benefit from.
One day when it suits you, upgrade to another house. Years after that house you may want something bigger when the kids are bigger so upgrade again.
It is all about starting somewhere, anywhere, rather than renting and getting nowhere.
The bears will now attack what I have said, they will try to convince you to wait, prices will drop they will say. They will try to sway you with figures that suit their case, they will use charts of US house prices.
I will tell you right now that the path they advocate leads to no progress. If you follow someone's advice it is more likely you will end up in the same situation they are in.
