The downside of renting is that after the first 6 months you're never more than 30 days from being chucked out, should your landlord hit financial difficulties/take advantage of a rising market/take against you for complaining too much. Doesn't really matter what they sign up to, they can still give you 30 (or sometimes 60) days notice and you're out.
Realistically I don't see house prices falling dramatically (I reckon that if they fall it will be in real terms - i.e. not keeping up with increases in wages - rather than visible terms) any time soon, so if you're already in the market, it might not make sense to leave it.
Mind you, I love being able to just phone the landlord when something goes wrong. Yes, we're paying someone else's mortgage, but we don't have to pay buildings insurance/boiler insurance/plumbing call out fees in the middle of the night/etc etc etc etc. Even if we could afford a mortgage, we couldn't afford a contingency fund to cover all of those expenses.
Carrie my dad loves fords, and he's been a motoring journalist for 50 years, so in an ideal world I'd listen to him! Just depends on whether we can afford the kind of car we want.
Had to abandon toddler groups today with hysterical screaming, weeping T - children were having their faces painted, and he is terrified of all masks/face paint/helmets. No idea why 
. He was properly clinging onto me, buried in my neck (most unlike him, except where facepaint/masks etc are concerned).