Rent vs Buy Calculator
Compares where you end up financially after a set number of years if you buy, against renting the same kind of home and investing the deposit and any monthly saving instead.
Your details
£45,000 up front.
The single biggest factor. Buying costs take years to recover.
Advanced options▾
What the renter earns on the deposit they did not spend, plus any monthly saving.
Of the property value. 1% is a common rule of thumb.
Estate agent and legal fees.
Updates as you change the figures. No submit button needed.
Result
Buying by £85,357
after 10 years, on these assumptions. Buying pulls ahead in year 2.
Buying, up front
Monthly, year one
Where people get this wrong
Rent is not dead money and a mortgage is not all saving. In the early years most of a mortgage payment is interest, which is just as gone as rent. What tilts the answer is time and the assumptions in Advanced options: house price growth, what the renter actually does with the deposit, and whether you would really stay 10 years. Move the house growth slider to 0% and the investment return to 6% and watch the answer flip. Neither number is knowable in advance, which is the honest conclusion.
How we calculate this
The buyer pays the deposit, stamp duty (using the current rates for your nation and buyer type) and fees up front, then a repayment mortgage plus maintenance each month. Their net worth is the house value (growing at your chosen rate) minus the outstanding loan and the cost of selling. The renter keeps all that up-front cash invested, pays rent (rising annually), and invests any month where owning would have cost more than renting. If renting costs more in a given month, the buyer invests the difference instead.
Both pots grow at the investment return you set, applied monthly. Nothing here includes tax on the renter's investment growth (assume it is inside an ISA), the buyer's capital gains exemption on a main home, or the value of security, flexibility, or being able to paint the walls. Those matter. They are just not numbers.
This tool is for general guidance only and is not financial or tax advice. Always check your own circumstances, ideally with a qualified adviser or accountant, before making decisions.
Related reading
Property
UK First-Time Buyer Schemes: What Each One Actually Gets You
Five government schemes claim to help first-time buyers, but most people pick the wrong one and pay for it for years.
Property
Overpay Your Mortgage or Invest? The Maths Most People Get Backwards
One option guarantees a tax-free return equal to your mortgage rate. The other has historically paid more but guarantees nothing. Here's the actual comparison.