Borrowing & Housing

Rent vs Buy Calculator

Compare long-term net worth impact of buying a home versus renting and investing the difference.

About the rent vs buy calculator

Buying a home is as much a financial decision as an emotional one. This calculator compares two paths over the same period: buying a property with a home loan, or renting a similar home and investing the money you would have spent on a down payment and higher monthly outgo. It projects the net worth you would hold at the end of each path.

It accounts for the realities that headline comparisons miss: your EMI, the down payment, maintenance that rises over time, property appreciation, rising rent, and the returns you could earn by investing the difference. The result shows which path leaves you wealthier and by how much.

This is a projection built on the assumptions you enter, especially property appreciation and investment returns, which are uncertain. Use it to understand the trade off rather than as a precise forecast, and revisit it as your assumptions or circumstances change.

How do I use the rent vs buy calculator?

  1. Enter the property details: Add the property price, your down payment percentage, the home loan interest rate, and the loan tenure.
  2. Set the growth assumptions: Enter expected annual property appreciation and the return you expect from investing the difference, both in percent per year.
  3. Enter the rent details: Add the monthly rent for a comparable home and the annual rate at which you expect rent to rise.
  4. Add ongoing costs: Enter monthly maintenance for the owned home. The calculator inflates this over time so the comparison stays realistic.
  5. Compare the outcomes: See the projected net worth under buying and renting, the difference, and a year by year breakdown. Use Share to save the scenario.

How is the comparison calculated?

Buy net worth = property value at the end, minus any outstanding loan. Rent net worth = the invested portfolio built from the down payment plus the monthly amount saved by renting.

When the buyer's monthly outgo is higher than rent, the renter invests the difference; when rent is higher, that gap reduces the renter's investible surplus. The path with the larger ending net worth is the financially better choice on these assumptions.