Nobody said that renting is always better than buying; it’s just better when the market is as distorted as it has been for the last few years. Who knows? Maybe it’ll never get this distorted again and after this cycle is over it will always be better to own than to rent. But that’s not the case now.
Like Asianautica said, in 2000 it definitely would have been better to be a buyer than a renter; especially if you had the discipline to get out at the peak and pocket the cash.
As for rent, you didn’t get nothing out of it. You paid for and received shelter, probably in a much nicer place than you could ever have afforded to buy. You also got to pocket the difference between your rent and the mortgage. You just didn’t get the right to profit (or lose) from the changes in value.
