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What you pay now, or would pay.
The rent itself, before bills. If your rent includes anything the owner's column would pay separately — water, a service charge, a maintenance contract — take it out and compare like with like, because those reappear as ownership costs further down. Where rent is likely to rise over the period you are comparing, this is a snapshot: a comparison run on today's rent flatters renting over a long horizon.
Price of the property you would buy.
The price you would pay for a property comparable to the one you rent — same size, same area, same condition. That is the comparison this makes. Pricing a larger or better property against your current rent is a valid thing to want, but it is not a rent-versus-buy answer: it compares two different lives, and buying will lose.
Deposit as a share of the price.
The cash you would put in, as a percentage. It moves two things at once — the loan, and therefore the interest, and the rate band the lender offers, which usually steps at 90%, 85%, 80% and 75%. Landing just the wrong side of a band costs more than the deposit difference. The deposit is also money that stops earning elsewhere, which the ownership column here does not charge you for.
Rate on the mortgage.
The rate you would actually be offered at the deposit above, not the headline rate in an advertisement, which usually assumes a large deposit. Over a comparison of several years the rate matters more than almost anything else on this page — and unlike the rent, it is fixed only for the initial period, after which the loan reverts to something higher unless you remortgage.
Mortgage term.
The term sets the monthly payment this comparison puts against your rent. A longer term makes owning look cheaper month by month while costing far more in total and building equity more slowly — and equity is the half of ownership a monthly comparison cannot see. Use the term you would genuinely take, then read the comparison as a cash-flow answer rather than a wealth one.
Property tax, buildings insurance, ground rent, service charge.
This is the line renters do not pay and buyers routinely forget. In some markets it adds 25-40% to the true monthly cost of owning.
Annual upkeep as a share of the property value.
One percent is the usual planning figure. It is lumpy in reality — nothing for three years, then a roof — but as an annual average it is a reasonable provision on a house in ordinary condition.
Deposit required up front
$52,500
Figures that depend on a rate wait for yours — this page does not assume one.
- Tax, insurance and charges
- $333.33
- Maintenance provision
- $291.67
- Rent
- $1,500
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Rent vs Buy Calculator: 52,500 currency — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- Maintenance is commonly budgeted at 1% of property value per year — a widely used planning figure, not a measured average
- All rates, taxes and charges are user inputs; none are assumed from any market
Inputs used
- Monthly rent
- 1500
- Purchase price
- 350000
- Deposit (%)
- 15
- Mortgage rate (%)
- Term (years)
- 25
- Annual tax, insurance and service charges
- 4000
- Maintenance (% of value per year)
- 1
Intermediate steps
- Tax, insurance and charges
- $333.33
- Maintenance provision
- $291.67
- Rent
- $1,500
What this calculation does not cover
- A monthly cash comparison only. It does not model house price growth, the return you could earn on the deposit if invested, rent inflation, or the equity you build by repaying capital.
- Purchase costs — stamp duty or transfer tax, legal fees, survey, moving — are not included and can be a large one-off sum.
- Owning is a cost comparison here, not an investment appraisal. A negative monthly comparison can still be the better long-run decision, and the reverse is also true.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-08-26 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.0
Regulatory standards & verification citations2
- Maintenance is commonly budgeted at 1% of property value per year — a widely used planning figure, not a measured average
- All rates, taxes and charges are user inputs; none are assumed from any market
Cite this page
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