The short answer
Buy the house if you can afford one where you want to live and will stay long enough for the upkeep you take on to be worth the appreciation, and buy the condo if the house is out of reach, you want no exterior maintenance, or you may move within a few years, having read the association's finances first; houses have appreciated faster in most markets.
The question is usually asked as a comparison of two kinds of home and it is really a comparison of two kinds of ownership. A house is a building and land you maintain and control. A condo is a share of a building somebody else manages, with a monthly bill for the management and a set of rules. Which one is right turns on money, time horizon and how much of your own roof you want to think about.
Money
Condos cost less to buy in the same area, often 20 to 40 percent less per home, and more to hold: dues of $250 to $500 a month in the Las Vegas valley cover what a house owner pays for directly, and rise faster than inflation as insurance and reserves catch up. Add the dues to the condo payment before comparing; a $300,000 condo with $350 dues carries about the same monthly cost as a $360,000 house at the same rate. Condo loans can carry slightly higher rates and stricter approval, and a project that fails a lender's review (low owner-occupancy, litigation, thin reserves) narrows the pool of buyers when you sell.
Time and control
A house is yours to change, rent, paint and neglect. It is also yours to maintain: budget one to two percent of its value a year, and expect the roof, the air conditioner and the water heater on their own schedule. A condo hands the exterior to the association and takes the decisions with it: rental restrictions, pet rules, what can be seen from the street. Owners who travel, who work long hours, or who are buying a first home for a few years before the next one often find the trade worth it. Owners who want a yard, a workshop, a dog or a rental later usually do not.
Resale
Detached homes have appreciated faster than condos in most American metros over most periods, and condos are more sensitive to the association: a special assessment, a lawsuit or an insurance problem hits every unit's value at once. Condos also compete with new rental supply in a way houses do not. That is not an argument against buying one; it is an argument for reading the reserve study and the meeting minutes before you do, and for treating the condo as the affordable way to own in a place you want to live rather than as an investment that will match the house down the street.
Questions people ask
Is buying a condo a good investment?
As a home, it can be: lower entry price, lower upkeep, and appreciation in a well-run building. As an investment against a house, condos have appreciated more slowly in most markets and carry association risk. Buy one to live in it, not to beat the house.
Are condos harder to sell than houses?
Often. The buyer pool is smaller, financing is stricter, and problems in the association reach every unit. In a strong market well-located condos sell fine; in a soft one they sit longer than houses.
What are the disadvantages of a condo?
Monthly dues that rise, rules you did not write, special assessments, slower appreciation, stricter financing, and dependence on how well the association is run. The advantages are price, location and freedom from exterior maintenance.