The comparison nobody does honestly
Renting is usually presented as money thrown away and buying as money saved. The real comparison is narrower than that and it runs both ways. Buying means the mortgage interest, the maintenance, the insurance, the ground rent and the transaction costs at both ends. Renting means the rent, and the ability to invest the deposit and the difference in monthly cost instead. Whichever comes out ahead depends on the numbers where you are and on how long you stay, not on the principle. A useful starting point is to put the deposit and the monthly gap through the compound growth calculator and see what the renting side of the ledger is actually worth over the same period.
Two things are true regardless. The transaction costs make short ownership expensive, so a purchase you might unwind within a few years is the weakest case for buying. And leverage cuts both ways: a mortgage magnifies a rising market and a falling one equally, which is the part that goes unmentioned when prices are rising.
The one free bonus worth claiming first
If you are under 40 and buying a first home, the Lifetime ISA is the closest thing to free money in UK personal finance. The government adds £1 for every £4 you contribute, up to £1,000 a year on a £4,000 contribution. The conditions are real and worth knowing before you open one: the money has to go towards a first home costing no more than £450,000, or come out with a 25% penalty attached, which can leave you with less than you put in. The full rules, and who should not use one.