Rent vs Buy
Rent vs Buy Calculator
Most calculators stop at the monthly payment, which is the wrong comparison. This one runs both paths all the way out and compares them on total net worth, counting what your down payment would have earned in the market if you had invested it instead.
How this calculator works
Renting and buying are usually compared on the monthly payment, which flatters buying, because it ignores what the money tied up in a house would otherwise have done. This calculator treats both sides as investment strategies and asks a single question: after a given number of years, which one leaves you with more?
The renter invests the down payment and closing costs immediately, then invests the difference in any month that renting is cheaper, both at your expected market return. The buyer builds equity through mortgage principal and appreciation, pays property tax, insurance, maintenance, HOA and PMI along the way, and invests any tax benefit from itemising above the standard deduction. Selling costs are not deducted, so the buyer's figure is the more generous of the two.
The answer is far more sensitive to your assumptions than most people expect, particularly the gap between home appreciation and stock return. That is what the sensitivity grid is for: it shows how quickly the verdict flips when those two move by a point either way. If the answer changes under a small nudge, treat it as a genuinely close call rather than a result.
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