Home · Rent vs Buy Calculator
The decision
Rent vs Buy Calculator
Whether buying beats renting comes down to one thing: how long you stay. This tool compares your net worth either way — owning a home that appreciates while you repay a loan, versus renting and investing the down payment and any monthly savings — and tells you the year buying pulls ahead.
The property & loan
Renting & assumptions
Net worth = what you'd walk away with: for buying, home value minus loan left; for renting, your invested savings. Same monthly spend is assumed both ways, with the cheaper option investing the difference.
How the comparison works
A fair rent-vs-buy comparison can't just stack rent against EMI — that ignores the biggest factor on each side: the buyer builds an appreciating asset, and the renter can invest the cash a buyer locks away. So this calculator runs both paths month by month and compares net worth.
The buyer puts down a down payment, pays EMIs and upkeep, and ends with home equity (current value minus the loan still owed). The renter invests that same down payment and, whenever renting costs less per month, invests the difference too — growing at your expected return. Whichever path leaves you with more at the end wins, and the break-even year is when buying first overtakes renting.
The result swings hard on three assumptions: home appreciation, investment return, and how long you stay. Lower appreciation or higher market returns push the break-even further out; a longer stay almost always favours buying. Once you've decided, check your budget with the affordability calculator and size the loan with the EMI calculator.