Rent vs Buy Break-Even Calculator
Compare renting and buying over 3, 5 or 7 years. Adjust closing costs, HOA, property tax and growth assumptions, explore nine scenarios, and download your annual comparison.
A single break-even year hides how sensitive the answer is. This page runs our rent vs buy calculator model for nine combinations of mortgage rate and home-price appreciation around your values, so you can see which assumption moves the result.
What is compared: for each option, the model's total cost through a given year: everything paid in, plus savings invested instead, minus what you would have at the end. For buying, that is the sale proceeds after selling costs, the loan payoff and capital-gains tax, plus invested savings. For renting, it is the invested savings plus the returned deposit. The option with the lower total costs less. The methodology explains the model and its limits.
Planning a shorter stay? Walk through a five-year rent-or-buy example before choosing your assumptions.
Moving in 3, 5 or 7 years?
Compare the same applied scenario at each horizon. Buying assumes you sell at the end of that year, including selling costs and the loan payoff. These are cumulative modeled net costs, not monthly bills or cash needed. Negative totals mean what remains exceeds what was paid in. A later move can change which option costs less; there is no universal five-year rule.
3 years
Renting costs $20,533 less
- Buying total
- $91,887
- Renting total
- $71,354
5 years
Renting costs $7,423 less
- Buying total
- $124,093
- Renting total
- $116,670
7 years
Buying costs $7,222 less
- Buying total
- $153,848
- Renting total
- $161,070
Uses your applied 6.5% mortgage rate and 4% yearly home appreciation. Your 10-year planned stay is compared in the grid and annual table below. “About even” means within $50. This is a model, not a forecast.
Cost assumptions used in these results
Closing costs to buy: 1.5% of purchase price. Costs to sell: 6% of sale price.
Yearly property tax: 1.2%, insurance: 0.5%, maintenance: 1% of modeled home value. HOA: $0/month.
Yearly rent change: 3%. Return on invested savings: 6% per year.
These apply to all nine scenarios, the short-stay comparisons and the CSV. Remaining fixed assumptions are listed below.
Break-even by mortgage rate and appreciation
Showing: $500,000 home, $2,500/month rent, 20% down, 10-year stay. Values are illustrative, not live market rates.
Rows: mortgage rate. Columns: yearly home-price appreciation (each 1 percentage point apart). Each cell shows which option has the lower modeled total cost after 10 years, and when buying first costs less within 30 modeled years.
Scroll sideways to see all three appreciation columns.
| Mortgage rate ↓ / appreciation → | 3% appreciation (−1 pt) | 4% appreciation (selected) | 5% appreciation (+1 pt) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5% rate (−1 pt) | Buying costs $16,136 less at 10 yearsBuying first costs less after about 7.6 years | Buying costs $72,044 less at 10 yearsBuying first costs less after about 4 years | Buying costs $132,111 less at 10 yearsBuying first costs less after about 2.7 years |
| 6.5% rate (selected) | Renting costs $23,666 less at 10 yearsBuying first costs less after about 18.6 years | Your inputsBuying costs $32,243 less at 10 yearsBuying first costs less after about 6 years | Buying costs $92,309 less at 10 yearsBuying first costs less after about 3.5 years |
| 7.5% rate (+1 pt) | Renting costs $64,385 less at 10 yearsRenting costs less through all 30 modeled years | Renting costs $8,476 less at 10 yearsBuying first costs less after about 12.5 years; renting costs less again from year 15 | Buying costs $51,590 less at 10 yearsBuying first costs less after about 4.9 years |
How to read the table
Start with the outlined cell (your inputs: 6.5% rate, 4% appreciation): buying costs $32,243 less at 10 years, and buying first costs less after about 6 years. Move along a row to see the effect of appreciation, or down a column to see the effect of the mortgage rate. When a cell says the lead changes again later, the break-even is not permanent. Break-even years are interpolated between the modeled yearly totals, so they are approximate.
This is a model, not advice to buy or rent. Local prices, rents, taxes and your own costs can change the result.
Your scenario year by year
Your applied inputs only (6.5% rate, 4% appreciation: the outlined cell above), not the alternatives around it. Each row is the model's total cost of each option through the end of that year, as defined above: not monthly bills or the cash you need. A negative total means the model ends that year with more than was paid in. "About even" means the totals are within $50.
The file holds the applied scenario shown here, including your planned stay, cost assumptions and remaining fixed assumptions, not unapplied changes in the form. It is a snapshot of modeled values made in your browser, not a spreadsheet with formulas.
Years 1–30 (your planned stay: year 10)
| Year | Total cost of buying | Total cost of renting | Which costs less |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $57,469 | $25,280 | Renting costs $32,189 less |
| 2 | $74,940 | $48,403 | Renting costs $26,537 less |
| 3 | $91,887 | $71,354 | Renting costs $20,533 less |
| 4 | $108,281 | $94,116 | Renting costs $14,165 less |
| 5 | $124,093 | $116,670 | Renting costs $7,423 less |
| 6 | $139,293 | $138,996 | Renting costs $298 less |
| 7 | $153,848 | $161,070 | Buying costs $7,222 less |
| 8 | $167,724 | $182,869 | Buying costs $15,146 less |
| 9 | $180,883 | $204,366 | Buying costs $23,483 less |
| 10Your planned stay | $193,287 | $225,530 | Buying costs $32,243 less |
| 11 | $204,896 | $246,330 | Buying costs $41,433 less |
| 12 | $215,667 | $266,730 | Buying costs $51,063 less |
| 13 | $229,316 | $286,691 | Buying costs $57,375 less |
| 14 | $242,965 | $306,171 | Buying costs $63,206 less |
| 15 | $255,905 | $325,120 | Buying costs $69,215 less |
| 16 | $268,094 | $343,481 | Buying costs $75,387 less |
| 17 | $279,487 | $361,194 | Buying costs $81,707 less |
| 18 | $290,035 | $378,193 | Buying costs $88,158 less |
| 19 | $299,687 | $394,406 | Buying costs $94,718 less |
| 20 | $308,388 | $409,753 | Buying costs $101,365 less |
| 21 | $316,080 | $424,152 | Buying costs $108,072 less |
| 22 | $322,700 | $437,509 | Buying costs $114,809 less |
| 23 | $328,183 | $449,723 | Buying costs $121,541 less |
| 24 | $332,459 | $460,688 | Buying costs $128,230 less |
| 25 | $335,452 | $470,285 | Buying costs $134,832 less |
| 26 | $337,085 | $478,386 | Buying costs $141,301 less |
| 27 | $337,273 | $484,855 | Buying costs $147,582 less |
| 28 | $335,925 | $489,541 | Buying costs $153,616 less |
| 29 | $332,569 | $492,306 | Buying costs $159,737 less |
| 30 | $327,077 | $493,001 | Buying costs $165,925 less |
Same applied cost assumptions and remaining fixed assumptions as the grid. This is a model, not a forecast.
Other assumptions (fixed in this explorer)
- Loan term
- 30 years
- PMI (below 20% equity)
- 0.5% of the loan per year
- Extra owner utilities
- $100 per month
- Renter costs
- 1-month deposit, $20/month insurance
- Taxes
- single filer, 22% marginal rate, $14,600 standard deduction, 15% capital gains rate
- Moving costs
- $2,000
Tax settings are illustrative and do not represent current law or your eligibility. The model simplifies taxes (mortgage-interest deduction on up to $750,000 of debt, property tax capped at $10,000, home-sale exclusion from year two); see the methodology. To change these assumptions, use the full rent vs buy calculator.