Rent vs Buy Calculator
Compare the full cost of buying a home against renting and investing the difference over the years you plan to stay, including transaction costs, appreciation, maintenance and opportunity cost.
Monthly payment versus monthly rent is the wrong comparison. Buying has transaction costs on both ends, maintenance, taxes and an opportunity cost on the down payment; renting has rent growth and the returns on money you did not tie up. This calculator totals both sides over the years you plan to stay.
What is being compared
Buying: down payment and closing costs up front, then mortgage payments, property tax, maintenance, insurance and HOA every year; at the end you sell, pay selling costs, repay the remaining loan, and keep the equity. Net cost is everything paid minus that equity.
Renting: rent that grows each year, while the down payment, closing costs and any years where owning costs more than renting are invested at the return you enter. Net cost is rent paid minus those investment gains.
The breakeven year is the first year in which buying's net cost drops below renting's. Short stays almost always favor renting because transaction costs are front-loaded; long stays favor buying because equity compounds and rent keeps rising.
Limits
No tax deductions (most households take the standard deduction), no PMI, no refinancing, and a 30-year loan. Appreciation and investment returns are the assumptions that matter most; try a range.