Rent vs. Buy Calculator

Use it when you want to test the exact inputs on this page: Compare renting and buying over a specific number of years. Test rent growth, appreciation, and selling cost assumptions. The result is a check against your assumptions, not proof that a lender, tax app, broker, platform, or provider will use the same number.

Monthly rent means today's rent before the calculator applies the annual rent increase. Annual rent increase means the percent rent grows each year in the renting side of the comparison. Home price and down payment means the purchase price and upfront cash used to estimate the loan amount. Mortgage rate and compare over years means the annual loan rate and the number of years you expect to keep the home before the modeled sale. Property tax, insurance, and maintenance means the recurring ownership costs added to the mortgage payment. Appreciation and selling cost means the home-value growth assumption and sale-cost percent used to estimate sale proceeds.

In plain language: The calculator projects rent with annual increases, estimates buying cash outflow, estimates sale proceeds after appreciation and selling costs, then compares net buying cost with rent cost. For the default example, projected rent is about $193,094.05. Net buying cost is about $157,639.26 after estimated sale proceeds, so buying is lower by about $35,454.79 in this simplified model.

Read the headline first, then compare total rent cost with net buying cost. Estimated sale proceeds and remaining loan balance explain why the buy side changes so much with appreciation, selling cost, and time horizon.

This does not include taxes, investment returns on cash, repairs timing, moving costs, HOA, PMI, local rules, opportunity cost, or personal flexibility needs. Before making a real housing decision, also add PMI, HOA dues, closing costs, tax effects, investment opportunity cost, repair timing, moving costs, school/work constraints, and the value of flexibility.

Check the stay length, rent-growth assumption, mortgage rate, down payment, property tax, insurance, maintenance percent, appreciation rate, selling cost, and whether the built-in 30-year mortgage assumption fits your scenario.

Buy minus rent is net buying cost minus total rent cost. If it is negative, the calculator shows buying lower by the difference. If it is positive, the calculator shows renting lower by the difference.

Selling costs, early mortgage interest, and the down payment can make buying look worse over a short horizon. A longer stay gives appreciation and loan payoff more time to affect the estimate.

No. It does not estimate what the down payment, closing cash, or monthly difference might earn if invested elsewhere. Add that separately before treating the result as a final decision.

No. The simplified ownership side includes mortgage payment, property tax, insurance, and a maintenance percent. PMI, HOA dues, major repairs, moving costs, and local fees can change the result.

The comparison assumes you sell after the entered time horizon. Estimated sale proceeds subtract selling costs and remaining loan balance from the appreciated home value, then reduce the buying cost.

No. Appreciation is only an assumption. A lower appreciation rate, flat value, or price drop can move the comparison toward renting, especially if selling costs are high.

Yes when you have one. A quoted rate, property tax estimate, insurance quote, PMI estimate, HOA dues, and repair budget will be more useful than broad defaults.

No. The calculator runs in your browser tab. Recent answers stay only on the page while you use it, and they are not sent to a server.