Rent or buy: the honest comparison
Buying is not just the mortgage. You also pay property tax, upkeep and insurance, and you pay a chunk to buy and again to sell. Renting costs less up front, so the money you do not spend on a home can be invested. This tool follows both paths month by month and shows what each would be worth, so you can see the year buying pulls ahead, if it ever does.
The mortgage payment comes from the mortgage calculator. Check that you can afford either path with the budget planner, and see what rising prices do to rent in the inflation calculator.
How to use it
- Enter today’s rent and how much it rises each year.
- Enter the home’s price, down payment, mortgage rate and length.
- Fill in the yearly running costs: property tax, maintenance and insurance.
- Set how fast you think the home price grows and what return you could get by investing.
- Add buying and selling costs (legal fees, taxes, agent fees), then pick how many years to look ahead.
What the numbers mean
- Net worth buying is the home’s value minus selling costs, minus what you still owe, plus any savings left over when renting would have cost more.
- Net worth renting is the investments: the down payment and buying costs you did not spend, plus every month’s saving when owning costs more than rent.
- Break-even is the first year buying is ahead.
Worked example
Rent 2,000 a month, rising 3% a year, against a 500,000 home with 20% down, a 5% mortgage over 25 years, 1% tax, 1% upkeep, 1,200 insurance, 3% growth, 5% investment return, 3% to buy and 5% to sell. Buying pulls ahead in year 16. Before that, renting and investing wins, because the costs of buying take years to earn back.
FAQs
Why does the answer change so much? Small changes in home growth, rent growth and investment return move the answer a lot. Try a cautious and a hopeful case.
Does it count tax breaks? No. Mortgage interest deductions or capital gains rules differ by country, so they are left out. Not financial or tax advice.
What if I will sell sooner than the break-even year? Then buying would have cost you more than renting. Look at the table for the year you expect to move.
Where the numbers come from
- Fibub's own model: monthly mortgage payment (standard level-payment formula), costs as a share of the home's value, and the difference invested at the return you choose. Every figure is your own assumption.
Standard scientific values, such as constants, atomic weights and melting points, are facts found in every textbook; we name where ours were checked. If you are an author or publisher and want a value, a credit or a table changed or removed, tell us and we will act quickly.
Last updated 2026-11-10.