While some experts have soured on the idea of homeownership since the housing bust of 2007-2012, hedge fund legend John Paulson, founder of Paulson & Co., isn't one of them.

"I still think, from an individual perspective, the best investment deal you can make is to buy a primary residence that you're the owner-occupier of," Paulson said at a New York City investment conference last week, CNBC reported.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 major cities rose 10.8 percent in the year through April, the smallest increase in more than a year.

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"Today's financing costs are extraordinarily low," Paulson explained. "You can get a 30-year mortgage around 4.5 percent. If you put down, 10 percent and the house is up 5 percent, which is the latest data, then you would be up 50 percent on your investment. And you've locked in the cost over the next 30 years."

But Paulson stressed that his recommendation is for buying a home to live in, not one to rent out.

"To buy it as an investment and rent it out, I'm not so enamored with that concept," he stated.

Meanwhile, housing starts unexpectedly dropped 9.3 percent in June from May to a nine-month low, the government reported Thursday.

"Something that was anticipated to be a big recovery in the spring just has turned out not to be," Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial, told Bloomberg. "We see more or less a stabilization. I don't think it's going to crash, and I don't think it's going to accelerate."

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