About the Rent vs Buy Calculator
Compare the total cost of renting vs buying over time, including appreciation, opportunity cost and selling costs.
Also known as: rent or buy, buy vs rent, should i buy a house.
How to use this calculator
- Enter home price, down payment, mortgage rate, monthly rent and the other fields.
- The result updates instantly as you type — press Calculate (or Enter) at any time.
- Review the breakdown shown under the main result.
- Use Copy result or Share to save the answer or send a link with your inputs.
Formula
Net buy = payments + costs − equity · Net rent = rent − investment gains
Worked example
Using the values pre-filled in the calculator above:
- Home price = 400,000
- Down payment = 20 %
- Mortgage rate = 6.5 %
- Monthly rent = 2,200
- Years to compare = 7
- Home appreciation = 3.5 %
- Rent increase per year = 3 %
- Return on invested cash = 6 %
the calculator returns:
- Better choice: Buying saves 18,151
- Net cost of buying: 136,263.8
- Net cost of renting: 154,415
- Home equity after sale: 189,045.02