Buy vs Rent Property Calculator

Buy a home, or rent the same place and invest the difference? Enter one property’s real numbers. See who comes out ahead, year by year.

▸How this works

Use the same property for both sides - the home's listing price on the buy side, its asking rent on the rent side. Sally buys the home; Jack rents the very same place. Both start with the same savings and earn the same monthly income, so it's a true apples-to-apples comparison.

Sally deploys her down payment plus closing costs into the home and keeps the rest invested. She pays mortgage P&I plus property taxes, insurance, HOA, and maintenance every month. Jack invests his entire starting savings and pays the asking rent each month.

Each month both characters take their identical income, pay their housing cost, and invest the leftover at your chosen return rate (e.g. S&P 500 ~8% long-run). End-of-horizon net worth = invested portfolio (both) + home equity (Sally only).

Personal assumptionsSame for both Sally and Jack

Starting savings

Monthly income

$/mo

Time horizon

yrs

Alternative investment return

Sally's home purchase

Home price

Down payment

Mortgage rate

Loan term

yrs

Property tax

Insurance

$/mo

HOA

$/mo

Maintenance

$/mo

Home appreciation

%/yr

Closing costs

Selling costs

Expense growth

%/yr

Total / mo

Jack's rental life

Monthly rent (asking rent for same property)

Annual rent increase

Results

Breakeven year

When buying beats renting

Sally's net worth

At end of time horizon

Jack's net worth

At end of time horizon

Advantage

At end of time horizon

Net worth over time

Monthly cost comparison

Year-by-year comparison

Year	Sally cost/yr	Jack cost/yr	Sally's principal pay down	Sally's appreciation	Sally's investments	Sally total NW	Jack total NW	Who wins

About this tool

Should you buy the home or rent the same home and invest the difference? This calculator runs both paths to a net-worth number: the buyer builds equity while paying interest, taxes, insurance and upkeep; the renter pays rent but invests the down payment and every monthly dollar the owner spends above rent.

Neither answer is universal. Buying tends to win with time, leverage and fixed payments in an inflating world; renting wins when price-to-rent ratios are stretched and the invested difference compounds in markets. The honest comparison is the one that charges the owner every cost, which is what this tool does.

Frequently asked questions

What is the invest-the-difference method?

Whenever owning costs more per month than renting, the fair comparison credits the renter with investing that gap. Skipping this step is how most buy-versus-rent arguments go wrong in favor of buying.

How long do I need to stay for buying to win?

Usually several years at minimum. Closing costs, agent commissions and moving costs are so front-loaded that short stays almost always favor renting, regardless of what prices do.

Does the calculator count home appreciation?

Yes, at a rate you control, alongside investment returns for the renter's side. The verdict often swings on exactly those two assumptions, so it pays to test a pessimistic and an optimistic case.