Right now it is a crap shoot. On one hand as EE pointed out houses are ridiculously priced. However who is to say that they will go down any time in the next 5 years? Even if they stablize, the price may just continue going up slowly rather than balooning.
A good link about buying vs. renting:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/...ide/P37627.asp
One of the best ways to make money is to buy a house in a developing area; and have it built. After a few years you can flip it. If living downtown is your goal; that's fine. But map the path you want to take. Are you willing to live in the deep south for 4 years first?
Myself I bought a "starter" type of house 15 months ago for $190K, and now similar houses are going for $270K. But the next upgrade type of house was about 40K more than what I paid back then, and is still around 45K more than what I could get for selling mine.
The other option is a room mate. To get the type of place you want you may have to have somebody split some of the costs with you.