Rent vs buy calculator
Compare what renting and buying would leave you with after the years you expect to stay, and when buying starts to pay off.
If you buy: (home value minus the mortgage left and selling costs, plus anything you invested)
If you rent: (your deposit and buying costs invested, plus the monthly differences)
Mortgage payment: a month
An estimate, not financial advice.
Nothing you type here is saved or sent anywhere.
How this is worked out
The calculator compares the two choices month by month over your stay, in money of the day (not adjusted for inflation).
- Buying: the mortgage payment uses the standard repayment formula: payment = loan × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)−n), with r the monthly rate and n the number of months. Each month adds upkeep and ownership costs. At the end, your position is the home's value, minus the mortgage left and the selling costs.
- Renting: the renter keeps the deposit and buying costs and invests them. Rent rises once a year.
- Every month, whichever side pays less invests the difference, so both sides spend the same each month. Both investments grow at the return you set.
- The break-even is the first year from which buying stays ahead, checked up to 30 years.
This is the usual opportunity-cost comparison: it asks what each choice leaves you with, not which one feels like ownership.
What this doesn't account for
- No taxes on gains, no mortgage tax relief, no regional rules: add local purchase taxes into buying costs.
- Small changes in house-price growth swing the answer. Try a lower growth rate before deciding.
- A fixed mortgage rate for the whole stay. Real rates change when deals end.
- Moving costs, furniture, and the time and stress of either choice.
- Not financial advice. For a decision this size, talk to a regulated mortgage or financial adviser.
Common questions
Is it better to rent or buy?
It depends mostly on how long you stay, how fast prices and rents rise, and what your deposit could earn if you invested it instead. Buying usually does better over longer stays, because the costs of buying and selling are spread over more years.
How long do I need to stay for buying to pay off?
Long enough for your equity and any rise in the home's value to outweigh the costs of buying and selling. With common assumptions that is often somewhere between 3 and 10 years. The calculator above shows the break-even for your own numbers.
Is paying rent just throwing money away?
No more than mortgage interest, upkeep and property costs are. Both sides have costs you never get back. This calculator compares them, and counts what a renter could invest with the money they did not put into a home.
Which costs of buying are included?
Buying costs such as purchase taxes and fees, selling costs, mortgage payments, upkeep, and yearly ownership costs such as property tax, insurance and service charges. Put your own local purchase taxes into buying costs.
Why does house-price growth change the answer so much?
A home is a large asset bought mostly with borrowed money, so a small change in its yearly growth moves your equity a lot after a few years. Try a lower growth rate to see how sensitive your answer is.