Rent vs Buy Calculator
The year buying overtakes renting, on assumptions you enter and can see.
Result
Buying costs less from year: 6 yearsEstimate
Every assumption here is one you entered, and the answer moves a lot when they change. Appreciation and the return on invested cash matter most: try a pessimistic pair as well as a hopeful one before drawing any conclusion.
- Buying saves by your horizon
- $134,166.55Estimate
- Net cost of buying
- $254,340.13Estimate
- Net cost of renting
- $388,506.68Estimate
- Equity at your horizon
- $310,912.96Estimate
https://calcgallery.com/home-buying/rent-vs-buy-calculator/
Results are arithmetic from the figures you enter, not legal, tax, lending or settlement advice. Fees vary by state, lender and negotiation, and the site quotes none of them. Check your Loan Estimate, Closing Disclosure or settlement statement for the real numbers. Read the full disclaimer
How to use the Rent vs Buy Calculator
- Enter the rent you pay now and the price of the property you would buy.
- Enter the loan terms and the running costs of owning.
- Set the assumptions: appreciation, what the cash would earn if invested, and how fast rent and costs grow.
Two paths, compared each year
Every year the page asks the same question: if you sold at the end of it, what would each path have cost?
buying = cash in + payments + running costs − what a sale would return after costsrenting = rent paid − what the cash a buyer tied up would have earnedThe break-even year is the first year buying costs no more than renting. Before it, renting is ahead; after it, buying is.
Why the assumptions are visible
Most rent-versus-buy calculators bake in appreciation, an investment return and a tax treatment, and present a verdict. Those assumptions decide the answer far more than the rent or the price does, and when they are hidden the verdict is really the calculator’s opinion wearing arithmetic.
Here they are all inputs, with no figure this site endorses. That makes the page more work to use and the answer worth more, because you can see exactly what it rests on. Change the investment return from five per cent to nine and watch the break-even year move; that sensitivity is the real finding, not any single year it reports.
What it does not model
No tax of any kind. No change in your circumstances, no move, no refinance, no period of vacancy. It also assumes you keep the same loan and the same property throughout, and that the rent you entered is what you would actually pay each year, grown at the rate you set.
Treat the break-even year as a rough boundary that shifts with every assumption, not a date.
With your numbers
- Net cost of buying over 15 years = $254,340.13
- Net cost of renting over the same years = $388,506.68
- Buying costs less from year 6 onwards
Quick reference
Every assumption here is one you entered, and the answer moves a lot when they change. Appreciation and the return on invested cash matter most: try a pessimistic pair as well as a hopeful one before drawing any conclusion.
| Example | Buying costs less from year |
|---|---|
| Worked example over 15 years | 6 |
| Five-year horizon | 0 |
| Flat property prices | 0 |
| Strong investment alternative | 11 |
| Rent rising quickly | 5 |
| Cash purchase | 4 |
Common questions about the Rent vs Buy Calculator
- Which assumption matters most?
- The return on the cash you would not tie up, closely followed by appreciation. Between them they can move the break-even year by a decade. Try a pessimistic pair before you conclude anything.
- Why does the answer say buying never overtakes renting?
- Because on the figures you entered it does not, within the years you entered. Lengthen the horizon, or try a different appreciation or investment return, and watch how far the answer moves.
- Are taxes included?
- No. Mortgage interest relief, capital gains treatment and local rules change and differ by circumstance, so the site models none of them. Both paths here are pre-tax.
- Why is the renter earning a return?
- Because a buyer ties up a down payment and closing costs that a renter does not. Ignoring what that money could earn is the most common way these comparisons are made to favour buying.
- What does the cost of selling do?
- It is deducted from the sale at the end of the horizon, which is why buying looks worse over short periods. Buying and selling within a couple of years rarely recovers its own transaction costs.