Investing in the home you live in gives you tax breaks (jurisdiction dependent).
You will look after your own home, instead of having renters with no vested interest.
You need access to a home anyway, why involve a 3rd party (landlord).
The leverage you can get is fantastic, and the interest payments are generally similar to what you'd be paying in rent anyway.
This does no apply to Buy to Let however, the advantages above don't really apply. A second property makes much less financial sense to me.
Having said that, I currently rent. I'm not settled down enough to tie myself to a single location, Australian property is super expensive (I think overpriced, but that's just a gut feel), and I'm keeping my non startup risk profile low to try and balance the risk I take on as an entrepreneur.