Rent vs Buy Calculator
Should you rent or buy? This calculator runs the full year-by-year comparison — mortgage cost, equity built, rent inflation, and the opportunity cost of your down payment — to find the breakeven year and the true winner over your hold horizon.
How rent vs buy is really measured
The simple answer — "rent is throwing money away" — is wrong. So is the opposite — "buying always wins." The honest answer depends on five variables: how long you stay, what the home appreciates, how much rent inflates, what the down payment could have earned in stocks, and your transaction costs on both sides.
Buy net cost
- + closing costs (one-time)
- + down payment (locked in equity)
- + mortgage payments × hold years
- + property tax, insurance, maintenance, HOA × hold years
- − equity at sale (home value − selling costs − mortgage balance)
Rent net cost
- + rent × hold years (with annual inflation)
- − investment growth on the down payment + closing costs
The breakeven year is the first year where cumulative buy cost dips below cumulative rent cost. Before that year, you're still recouping closing costs and selling friction. After that, equity gain plus locked-in housing cost starts winning.
For a precise monthly mortgage payment, see the Mortgage Calculator. To check what home price you can actually qualify for, use the Home Affordability Calculator.