Rent vs Buy Calculator
Compare the true costs of renting versus buying a home. Factor in appreciation, maintenance, taxes, and opportunity cost.
🏡 Buying
🔑 Renting
Return on alternative investments
Cost of Buying
Cost of Renting
📊 Year by Year
| year | Buy Cost | Rent Cost | Difference | Better |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Scenario guide
Compare cumulative housing costs under explicit ownership and renting assumptions.
Method and posting
Mortgage payments stop at actual scheduled payoff, including a reconciled final payment. Property tax and maintenance use the original price; home and renter insurance stay constant. Rent rises annually. The renter invests only the retained down payment. Buying net cost subtracts paid principal equity and modeled appreciation; renting subtracts investment gains.
Amounts post to two decimal places. Totals use the posted amounts; final loan payments can differ from the regular payment. Use the same currency for every input. A display currency or language does not select a jurisdiction. Rounding ties are away from zero; input amounts round from their decimal representation.
Arithmetic example
1200 ÷ 12 = 100; 1200 − 1200 = 0; 12 × 100 = 1200.
Assumptions and limits
No investment of monthly cash-flow differences, closing or selling costs, tax deductions, PMI or rent deposit is included. Returns and appreciation may be negative. Equal costs show a tie rather than a financial recommendation. Zero years has no payments; zero price does not create a loan.
Use anonymous amounts and neutral position names. Copy and CSV controls include the entered position data. Page, account and advertising features have separate data policies; this calculator is not a guarantee of privacy.
About Rent vs Buy Calculator
Compare cumulative housing costs under explicit ownership and renting assumptions. Mortgage payments stop at actual scheduled payoff, including a reconciled final payment. Property tax and maintenance use the original price; home and renter insurance stay constant. Rent rises annually. The renter invests only the retained down payment. Buying net cost subtracts paid principal equity and modeled appreciation; renting subtracts investment gains.
Use Cases
How to use
Enter purchase price, down payment, mortgage rate and loan term.
Set property tax, home insurance, maintenance and appreciation.
Enter rent, rent escalation and renter insurance.
Set the assumed investment return on the down payment retained by a renter.
Compare net costs and the full yearly table across the chosen horizon.
Pro Tips
- Enter your values carefully — small differences in inputs can lead to large changes in the Rent Vs Buy Calculator result, especially for long time periods.
- Use the Rent Vs Buy Calculator to compare multiple scenarios side by side. Open the tool in several tabs to see how different assumptions impact your outcome.
- Bookmark this Rent Vs Buy Calculator and return whenever your situation changes — small updates in income, rates, or expenses are easy to recompute.
- Use anonymous amounts and neutral position names. Copy and CSV controls include the entered position data. Page, account and advertising features have separate data policies; this calculator is not a guarantee of privacy.
- Combine this Rent Vs Buy Calculator with our other financial tools (loan, tax, budget calculators) for a more complete financial picture.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Housing running costs and rent can continue, but paid-off loan instalments stop.
No. It compares only the entered scenario and excludes personal, legal and unmodeled transaction costs.