Calculator
Rent vs Buy Calculator
Over the years I plan to stay, which comes out ahead?
If you bought
If you rented
Assumptions
Over your holding period
—
—
Where the crossover sits
—
- Net cost of buying
- —
- Net cost of renting
- —
- Equity at the end
- —
- Owning, per month (yr 1)
- —
Net cost of each path, year by year
Buying starts far behind because of the deposit and the buying costs, then catches up as equity builds.
Side by side at your horizon
Year-by-year detail
Share this result
Thank you — that is where it would go.
This is a demonstration site, so no email was sent and your address was not stored. To actually send it now, useyour own mail app.
The link carries your inputs in the address, so whoever opens it sees the same numbers. Sharing uses plain share links: no social SDKs, no tracking pixels, and nothing leaves your browser until you click one.
Illustrative figures — here is exactly what this assumes
- Net cost = everything paid out, less what you still hold at the end.
- Growth rates compound annually and are constant.
- Renting credits the invested deposit and closing costs at your set return.
- Owning charges buying costs at the start and selling costs at the exit.
- No tax deduction, rent control, letting income or mortgage insurance modelled.
- Figures are illustrative. Nothing here is investment or tax advice.
This calculator provides estimates for educational purposes only. Results are not a Loan Estimate, pre-approval, or commitment to lend, and may not reflect taxes, insurance, HOA dues, or other costs. Contact a loan officer for an accurate quote.
Rates shown are for illustrative purposes only, are not a quote or guarantee, and do not reflect a specific offer. Actual rates depend on credit score, loan amount, loan-to-value, occupancy, and other factors, and change daily. Contact us for a personalized rate quote.
Turn the estimate into a number
A calculator uses averages. A loan officer uses your file.
Property taxes, insurance and mortgage insurance all move by county, by carrier and by credit profile. If you want a figure you can plan around, that is the conversation to have.
- No credit pull to start a conversation
- Plain answers, including "this is not the right time"
- You can stop at any point
This is a demonstration website. The form below validates and confirms, but nothing is sent and nothing is stored. Nobody will call you.
Thank you, there.
On a live site this would reach a loan officer and you would hear back the same working day. On this demonstration nothing was sent, nothing was stored, and nobody will contact you.
If you want to reach a real person about this demo, the site owner is athello@summitcrestmortgage.com.
Keep going
- Monthly PaymentPrincipal, interest, tax, insurance, HOA and PMI — itemised.
- Amortisation ScheduleEvery payment, month by month or year by year, with running totals.
- AffordabilityIncome, debts and DTI turned into a defensible price range.
- Refinance & Break-evenNew rate against closing costs, and the month it pays back.
- Extra PaymentsOne-off and recurring overpayments against interest and months saved.
Calculator FAQ
Questions about renting versus buying
How does this compare the two honestly?
On net cost, not on monthly payment. Owning is charged with the mortgage, tax, insurance, HOA, upkeep and the cost of buying and selling — then credited with the sale proceeds after the outstanding balance. Renting is charged with the rent — then credited with what the deposit and closing costs would have earned had they stayed invested. Comparing a mortgage payment with a rent cheque, which is the usual version of this question, flatters buying badly.
Why does the holding period change the answer so much?
Because the costs of buying and selling are front-loaded and large. Spread over twenty years they are noise; spread over two they dominate. That is the real reason the conventional advice is not to buy if you might move soon — it is arithmetic rather than superstition.
What is the investment return field for?
It is what your deposit and closing costs would plausibly have earned had you not put them into a house. Without it the comparison quietly pretends that money is free, which stacks the deck towards buying. Set it to zero if you want to see how much difference it makes.
Is this the whole picture?
No, and it does not try to be. It models cash and it models nothing else: not the security of a fixed payment, not the freedom to move at a month's notice, not the tax treatment where you live, not what it feels like to paint a wall without asking. Those belong in the decision; they just do not belong in a spreadsheet.