Rent vs. Buy Calculator

Compare the long-term financial costs of renting versus buying a home over your planned time horizon.

Home Purchase
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Renting
Assumptions

Decide whether renting or buying makes more financial sense for your situation with our free rent vs buy calculator, factoring in mortgage costs, opportunity cost, and long-term appreciation.

How the Comparison Works

This calculator compares total cost of renting against total cost of buying (mortgage payments, property tax, insurance, maintenance, minus estimated home appreciation and equity built) over your specified time horizon.

How to Use This Calculator

  1. Enter your monthly rent (if renting)
  2. Enter home price, down payment, mortgage rate, and term (if buying)
  3. Enter how many years you plan to stay
  4. Click Calculate to compare total costs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is buying always better long-term?

Not necessarily, it depends heavily on how long you stay, local home price appreciation, and opportunity cost of your down payment.

What costs do people often forget when buying?

Closing costs, ongoing maintenance (typically 1-2% of home value annually), property tax increases, and HOA fees.

Does this factor in tax deductions?

Some versions include mortgage interest deduction estimates; check your local tax rules.

What's the breakeven point?

This is the number of years you'd need to stay for buying to become cheaper than renting, given your inputs.