Rent vs Buy Calculator

Use our Rent vs Buy Calculator to see whether renting or buying a comparable home costs less — month by month, and over the years you’d stay once equity, appreciation and the costs of buying and selling are counted.

The monthly cost of buying is the mortgage payment plus property tax, home insurance, HOA dues and maintenance. With $2,000 rent against a $350,000 home bought with 20% down at 6.5% over 30 years, 1.1% property tax, $1,500 a year of insurance and 1% maintenance, buying costs $2,507.29 a month — about $507 more than renting.

But part of each payment builds equity, so choose Over time: renting costs the rent you’d pay, rising each year, and buying costs the down payment, closing costs and monthly costs, minus what you get back when you sell — the home’s value less the loan balance and selling costs. With 3% rent increases, 3% appreciation, 3% closing and 6% selling costs, buying comes out about $44,249 ahead after seven years, and pulls ahead in year 4: the break-even year. Add a return to count what the down payment could have earned invested instead.

The comparison leaves out income taxes and holds tax, insurance and upkeep at today’s amounts, so treat the results as an estimate. To see the mortgage payment in detail, use our Mortgage Payment Calculator; to see how much home you can afford, our Home Affordability Calculator. For a quick first check of prices against rents, use our Price-to-Rent Ratio Calculator.