Free Online Calculators
Compare total costs of renting vs buying over time
This calculator compares buying and renting over the term you choose and shows the wealth each path leaves at the end: home value minus all payments, 1% yearly maintenance and 7% closing costs, versus the down payment invested at 6% minus all rent. With the defaults (€400,000, 20% down, 3.5%, 20 years, €1,500 rent) the payment is €1,856 a month and buying comes out ahead.
Thanks for your feedback!
It depends on how long you stay, the gap between rent and total ownership costs, and what return you'd earn on the money you don't tie up in a down payment. Buying tends to win over long holding periods, while renting often wins if you move again within a few years, because purchase and sale costs never get spread out.
Compare your rent against the full cost of owning — mortgage interest, property tax, insurance, maintenance, HOA and the buying and selling fees — not just the mortgage payment. Then add what your down payment would have earned if invested, and see which side is cheaper over the number of years you actually plan to stay.
Ramsey treats renting as fine and often smart in the short term, and says you should only buy once you're debt-free, have an emergency fund and can put down a solid down payment. He argues renting while you get your finances in order beats buying a house that turns into a burden.
Wealthy renters usually value liquidity and flexibility more than home equity — capital left in the markets or in a business can outearn a primary residence, and renting avoids maintenance, property taxes and being locked to one city. It's a portfolio choice, not a sign they can't afford to buy.
Ramsey's 25% rule says your total monthly housing payment should stay at or below 25% of your monthly take-home pay. The payment includes principal, interest, property taxes, insurance and HOA dues, not just the loan itself.
It depends mainly on your down payment, mortgage rate, property taxes and insurance, and any other debt payments you carry. Work out the full monthly housing cost at your actual rate, then check what income keeps that cost within the share of gross pay your lender allows.
It depends on the price-to-rent ratio, your mortgage rate, your down payment and the time frame. This calculator compares both paths over the term you choose and shows how much wealth each one leaves you with at the end. With the default values (€400,000 home, 20% down, 3.5% interest, 20 years, €1,500 rent) buying comes out ahead: €40,970 buy wealth versus −€180,782 rent wealth.
Three assumptions are built in and cannot be changed: closing costs of 7% of the price, maintenance of 1% of the price per year, and a 6% yearly return on the down payment that a renter keeps invested.
Both figures subtract the housing costs you pay out of your income, so they can be negative; what matters is the gap between them. The calculator does not show a break-even year or a year-by-year table.
A €400,000 home with 20% down means €80,000 of your own money and a €320,000 loan. At 3.5% over 20 years the payment is €1,856 a month, €445,409 in total, of which €125,409 is interest. Add €80,000 of maintenance and €28,000 of closing costs. At 2% appreciation the home is worth €594,379 after 20 years, so buy wealth is €40,970.
As a renter you invest the €80,000 at 6% and have €256,571 after 20 years. Rent of €1,500 rising 2% a year adds up to €437,353, so rent wealth is −€180,782. Buying wins by €221,752.
The price-to-rent ratio matters most. With all other defaults unchanged, renting only wins below a rent of about €740: at €700, rent wealth is €52,473 against €40,970 for buying. Appreciation matters too: at 0% the home is still worth €400,000 at the end, buy wealth drops to −€153,409 and buying leads by only €27,373. A higher rate also pushes the result toward renting; at 5% the payment rises to €2,112.
The model is deliberately simple. Property tax, insurance, HOA fees, selling costs, tax deductions and refinancing are not included. Closing costs and maintenance are fixed; if yours are higher, buying looks better than it really is. The renter only invests the down payment, and the monthly difference between owning costs and rent earns nothing, which favors buying. Because the term is also the mortgage term, short periods produce high payments (€3,164 a month over 10 years), so the result is only a rough guide if you plan to sell after a few years.
The calculator does not compute a break-even year. It compares wealth at the end of the term you enter, and that term is also the length of the mortgage. Selling costs, which often take several years to earn back, are not part of the calculation.
No. Tax effects such as the mortgage interest deduction are not modelled. If you can deduct mortgage interest, the real cost of buying is somewhat lower than shown.
The default is 2% per year. Past appreciation varies widely by region and does not guarantee future growth, so also try a cautious value such as 0% or 1% and see how much the verdict depends on it.