Compare buying a home with renting and investing the difference. See which path builds more wealth, and when buying catches up.
Start with a home and a rental you would actually choose.
Use a price from $1 to $100,000,000.
Use a monthly rent from $1 to $250,000.
Allowed range: 0% to 100%.
Allowed range: 0% to 30%.
Allowed range: 1 to 40 years.
Allowed range: -50% to 50% per year.
Private to this session. No account needed.
Renting puts you ahead by
$18,601
Estimated net-worth advantage after your planned 7 years.
Buying first catches up around year 11.
| Milestone | Buying | Renting | Ahead by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $79.7K | $118.5K | Rent +$38.8K |
| Planned 7 years | $194.7K | $213.3K | Rent +$18.6K |
| Break-even year 11 | $288K | $280.3K | Buy +$7.8K |
Adjust ownership costs, growth rates, and transaction fees.
Monthly payments, home equity, and invested savings
Buying builds home equity. Renting starts by investing the same cash that would cover the down payment and buyer closing costs.
Each month, the path with lower housing costs invests the savings. Both paths use the same investment return assumption.
Compare net worth after the planned stay, including estimated selling costs. Break-even is the first year buying is ahead.
| Upfront | Down payment and buyer closing costs. |
|---|---|
| Ongoing | Mortgage payments, property tax, home insurance, maintenance, repairs, and HOA dues. |
| At sale | Home value less the remaining mortgage balance and selling costs, plus any invested savings. |
| Upfront | Invest the cash that would have gone toward the down payment and buyer closing costs. |
|---|---|
| Ongoing | Rent, annual rent increases, and invested monthly savings when renting costs less. |
| At the end | The investment balance, including growth at your assumed return. |
Adding HOA dues: convert the annual amount to a percentage of the home price and add it to maintenance. For example, $300 a month on a $450,000 home is about 0.8% a year.
Explore the details with the loan calculator, amortization calculator, or investment growth calculator.
Illustrative example using the default assumptions. These figures are separate from your live result above.
A 30-year mortgage at 6.5%; other inputs use the calculator defaults.
| Home price | $450,000 |
|---|---|
| Monthly rent | $2,400 |
| Down payment | 20% |
| Planned stay | 7 years |
| Buying | $194,738 |
|---|---|
| Renting | $213,339 |
| Break-even | Around year 11 |
| Advantage | Renting leads by $18,601 |
In this example, buying has not caught up by the planned move date. Upfront transaction costs and the renter’s invested savings matter more over a shorter stay.
Change: set your planned stay to 3–4 years.
Watch: compare the advantage at your move date with the break-even year.
Change: increase monthly rent and annual rent growth.
Watch: see how the projected net worth and break-even year change.
Change: raise the mortgage rate, property tax, or maintenance reserve.
Watch: check the owner cost and the advantage over your planned stay.
It is the first year when the estimated buying path is worth more than the rent-and-invest path. A break-even year after your likely move date is a warning sign for buying on financial grounds.
Not automatically. Rent pays for housing and flexibility. Buying builds equity, but mortgage interest, taxes, repairs, insurance, and selling costs are also real expenses.
No. Mortgage interest and property tax deductions depend on filing status, itemizing, deduction caps, and local tax details. Treat any tax benefit as an adjustment to review separately.
Renting usually requires less cash upfront. Investing the down payment and any monthly savings creates a fairer comparison against the equity built through ownership.
Increase the maintenance rate in advanced assumptions. For HOA fees, add the annual amount as a rough percentage of the home price and include it in maintenance.
It can show the financial tradeoff under your assumptions, but it cannot judge job stability, school plans, relocation risk, financing approval, or how much flexibility is worth to you.
No account is needed, and the calculator only uses your entries to update the result in this browser session. Avoid entering private address, income, or loan application details.
Compare rent, purchase costs, and your time horizon using your own assumptions.
Free to use. No sign-up.
