Is renting or buying better for me?
Both households start with the same cash and whichever has the lower monthly outlay invests the difference. Shows net worth either way, the break-even year, and every assumption behind it.
What you pay now, or would pay instead of buying.
Every assumption, all editable
Nothing below is a figure this site knows. They are your assumptions about the future, and the answer moves a great deal when they change, which is the most useful thing this calculator has to tell you.
A common rule of thumb is 1%, and it is a rule of thumb rather than a measurement.
Most leases bundle some utilities. This is the difference, not the total.
What the renter earns on the money not tied up in a house.
After 10 years
Renting is ahead by $13,438
Buying does not overtake renting inside 10 years on these assumptions.
Buying
$456,551
net worth after 10 years, if you sold
Renting
$469,990
portfolio after 10 years
- Upfront cash to buy
- $134,620
- Owning, month one
- $4,232
- Renting, month one
- $2,425
- Equity after 10 years
- $492,501
| Mortgage interest | $216,542 |
|---|---|
| Property tax | $67,981 |
| Maintenance, fees, insurance and utilities | $107,358 |
| Buying closing costs | $4,620 |
| Cost of selling 4.1% of the sale price | $35,950 |
| Total cost of owning | $432,450 |
| Total rent paid | $337,990 |
| Year | Home value | Owner net worth | Renter net worth | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $669,500 | $133,074 | $163,319 | -$30,245 |
| 2 | $689,585 | $163,998 | $192,995 | -$28,996 |
| 3 | $710,273 | $196,066 | $223,682 | -$27,616 |
| 4 | $731,581 | $229,321 | $255,416 | -$26,094 |
| 5 | $753,528 | $263,812 | $288,234 | -$24,422 |
| 6 | $776,134 | $299,585 | $322,175 | -$22,590 |
| 7 | $799,418 | $336,692 | $357,278 | -$20,587 |
| 8 | $823,401 | $375,185 | $393,587 | -$18,402 |
| 9 | $848,103 | $415,119 | $431,142 | -$16,023 |
| 10 | $873,546 | $456,551 | $469,990 | -$13,438 |
Both households start with the same cash: the buyer puts it into a house, the renter puts it into a portfolio. Whichever of them has the lower monthly outlay invests the difference, and both sides are credited with it. Calculators that credit only the renter with that spread are the reason buying looks worse than it is.
The comparison most calculators get wrong
Both households here start with exactly the same cash. The buyer puts it into a down payment and closing costs; the renter puts the identical sum into a portfolio. Then, every month, whichever of them has the lower outlay invests the difference, and both sides are credited with it.
That symmetry is the whole point. A great many calculators credit only the renter with the spread between the two monthly costs, which quietly hands the renter free money whenever owning is more expensive and hands the owner nothing when it is cheaper. It is the single largest reason buying looks worse than it is on the internet.
Net worth is measured as though you sold
The owner's figure is the home's value, less what is left on the mortgage, less what it would cost to sell, plus whatever is in the portfolio. Leaving the cost of selling out would compare a liquid portfolio against an illiquid house and call it even. Commission alone runs to several per cent, and it lands entirely on the owner's side.
Why the break-even year is the answer
Buying is expensive on day one and cheap on year twenty. Closing costs, the transfer tax and the commission on the eventual sale are all paid once, and they take years of equity to earn back. So the honest question is not whether buying beats renting, it is how long you have to stay for it to. If you might move in three years, the answer is usually renting, at almost any price.
Every assumption is yours
Appreciation, rent inflation and investment return are not figures this site knows, and nobody else knows them either. They are the three inputs that move the answer most, and they are all editable. The most useful thing you can do with this calculator is not to read the headline figure but to change those three and watch how far the break-even year moves. If it swings between four years and never, the honest conclusion is that the comparison does not decide it for you.
What this assumes
- Rates hold for the whole horizon
- The mortgage rate is applied for the full period. In reality you renew every few years at whatever is available then.
- Maintenance as a share of value
- One per cent a year is a common rule of thumb. It is a rule of thumb, not a measurement, and real maintenance arrives in lumps: a roof, a furnace, and then nothing for six years.
- The renter actually invests the difference
- This is the assumption most likely to fail in practice. If the money is spent instead, the renter's column is imaginary and the comparison favours buying by more than it shows.
- No tax on the investment return
- The renter's portfolio grows untaxed here. In a taxable account it would not, and a principal residence is exempt from capital gains tax where the portfolio is not.
- Nothing about what you want
- Security of tenure, freedom to move, the ability to paint a wall, and the burden of being responsible for the roof are all real and none of them are money. This calculator has nothing to say about them.
Sources
- Land Transfer Tax · Manitoba Finance · checked
- Land Titles Fees, effective January 4, 2026 · Teranet Manitoba · checked
- Bulletin No. 061: The Retail Sales Tax Act, Insurance · Manitoba Finance · checked
- Real Property Transfer Tax Act, R.S.N.B. c. R-2.1 · Province of New Brunswick · checked
- Schedule of Fees Prescribed by the Minister of Government Services, Registry of Deeds · Commercial Registrations Division, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador · checked
- Land Titles Office Schedule of Fees, updated September 1, 2025 · Land Titles Office, Department of Justice, Government of the Northwest Territories · checked
The rules behind this calculator were last checked on .