The honest version
Owning beats renting over a long enough horizon in most markets — but 'long enough' is doing a lot of work in that sentence. In the early years, buying usually costs more month to month and you're out the closing costs. The case for buying is built on time.
What actually builds the gain
Four things work for you: appreciation on the property, principal paid down each month, the mortgage interest and property tax deduction if you itemise, and the fact that your housing payment stops rising while rent generally doesn't.
Three things work against you: the cost of buying, the cost of selling (typically 4–6% of the sale price), and the months where owning simply costs more than renting.
The break-even year
Add all of that up year by year and there's a crossover point where buying pulls ahead. Depending on price, rate, rent and appreciation, it commonly lands somewhere between year two and year six. Before it, renting was the better financial call. After it, the gap widens quickly.
What this means for you
The question isn't 'is buying better?' — it's 'am I staying past my break-even?' I can run the year-by-year numbers on a specific property and rent so you can see where yours lands.