Buy vs Rent Calculator
Enter the home price, mortgage, running costs, and your rent to see which choice leaves you wealthier, by how much, and after how many years buying starts to win.
Overview
Comparing a mortgage payment with rent misses most of the picture. Buying ties up a down payment and buying costs that could otherwise be invested, adds property tax, maintenance, and insurance on top of the mortgage, and costs money again when you sell. Renting avoids all of that, but rent rises over time and you don't own the home's growth in value.
This calculator gives both choices the same starting cash and follows them month by month. The renter invests the money the buyer spent up front, and whichever choice is cheaper each month invests the difference. The result is each path's net worth over time: the home's value after selling costs, minus the mortgage still owed, plus investments for the buyer; investments alone for the renter.
Examples & Sample Data
400,000 home, 20% down, 6% mortgage vs 1,800 a month rent, over 20 years
Price 400000, down 20%, rate 6%, 30-year term, buying costs 3%, selling costs 6%, property tax 1%, maintenance 1%, 150/month fees, rent 1800 rising 3%/yr, home price growth 3%/yr, investment return 6%/yr
After 20 years, renting leaves you about 94,000 better off. Net worth if you buy: about 506,000 Net worth if you rent: about 601,000 Monthly mortgage payment: 1,919
The same home, with rent at 2,400 a month
As above, with rent 2400
After 20 years, buying leaves you about 251,000 better off. Break-even: buying pulls ahead in year 6 and stays ahead.
How It Works
- Choose your currency and how many years to compare. Use the number of years you expect to stay in the home, since buying and selling costs matter less the longer you stay.
- Enter the home price, down payment, mortgage rate and term, and the running costs of owning.
- Enter your rent, how fast rents rise, and what you'd earn investing instead.
- Read the result, check the year-by-year table and chart, and copy the link to share or revisit this exact scenario.
Common Use Cases
Deciding whether to buy now
See whether buying beats renting over the time you actually expect to stay, and how sensitive the answer is to price growth and interest rates.
Checking how long you need to stay
The break-even year shows the minimum stay before buying and selling costs are paid back.
Comparing two homes or two cities
Open a copy of the calculator for each option and compare the two shareable links side by side.
Tips & Best Practices
- Home price growth and investment return have the biggest effect on the result. Try a few realistic values rather than trusting one guess.
- Maintenance of 1% to 2% of the home's value a year is a common rule of thumb; older homes usually need more.
- If you'd spend rather than invest the money saved by renting, renting's advantage in this calculator disappears. It assumes the difference is invested.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Everything is calculated in your browser. The shareable link stores your inputs in the page address itself, not on a server.
If you buy: the home's value after selling costs, minus the mortgage still owed, plus any money invested in months when owning was cheaper than renting. If you rent: the down payment and buying costs, invested from day one, plus the difference invested every month owning would have cost more.
No. Tax rules for homes and investments differ widely between countries, so they're left out. If you get a tax break on mortgage interest, or pay tax on investment gains but not on selling your home, buying will look somewhat better than shown here.
It's the first year from which buying leaves you better off and stays ahead for the rest of the period. If renting stays ahead the whole time, there's no break-even within the years you chose.
Buying costs include transfer or stamp taxes, legal and lender fees, and inspections, often 2% to 5% of the price, though some countries charge more. Selling costs are mainly agent fees and legal costs, often 3% to 7% of the sale price.
Related Tools
Explore more high-performance utilities.