Your property taxes and mortgage insurance are deductible where rent is not. If you look hard enough in NJ/NY areas you can find places where the principal is near the rent price and you deduct the rest. In the long run that works out to your favor.
Not everyone can afford such a situation and the new Trump tax changes don't help either. Just saying "I should rent" is irresponsible because you think you're bumping the state pension funds. When you rent you're helping an owner pay off their mortgage as well as the very taxes to pay that pension fund.