Include property tax, insurance, mortgage insurance, maintenance and association fees in other ownership costs. Rates are your assumptions.
Your comparison
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No live prices, tax deductions or guaranteed investment returns are assumed.How this calculator helps
This home rent versus buy calculator compares two user-supplied housing scenarios over the same whole-year horizon. It tracks a fixed-rate amortizing mortgage, buying and selling fees, annual home-value changes, rent changes and separate other housing costs. An explicit net alternative-return assumption puts cash outflows on a common horizon-date basis. At each year end, buying receives the modeled net sale proceeds after selling costs and remaining debt; renting receives the assumed returned deposit. The result is a conditional cost comparison, not a recommendation or affordability decision. SolvePilot is independent of The New York Times and does not reproduce its tax model, defaults or branded calculator.
How to use it
- 1
Choose one currency and a common whole-year comparison horizon.
- 2
Enter purchase, down payment, fixed mortgage terms and both transaction-cost percentages.
- 3
Supply rent and home-value change assumptions rather than using a forecast.
- 4
Include taxes, insurance, maintenance, mortgage insurance and association fees in other ownership costs.
- 5
Enter the net alternative return and rental deposit/fees, calculate, then compare the year-by-year CSV and several scenarios.
Formula and methodology
Monthly P&I = P × r/(1−(1+r)^−n), or P/n at zero rate. Debt updates by interest minus the monthly payment. Each path accumulates upfront and month-end cash costs at the supplied effective monthly alternative return. Buying net cost subtracts home sale value less selling fees and remaining debt. Renting net cost subtracts the returned deposit.
The calculator applies the displayed arithmetic to the values entered on this device. It does not silently load a local tax rate, currency conversion or commercial assumption.
Worked calculation example
A transparent zero-return check uses a 100,000 home, 20% down, no fees, a zero-interest ten-year loan, one year of ownership and no other ownership costs. The monthly loan payment is 80,000/120 = 666.666667. After twelve payments the balance is 72,000. Buying cash outflow is 28,000 and the net sale equity is 28,000 if the home value stays 100,000, so net buying cost is zero. Renting at 500 per month with no additional costs has a net cost of 6,000. Principal repayment created recoverable equity in this illustration; it was not treated as irrecoverable housing expense.
How to interpret your result
A lower modeled net cost identifies the cheaper path under the entered assumptions and horizon. It does not prove that the path is affordable, available or preferable personally. Negative net cost can occur when modeled recovered equity exceeds accumulated costs; that remains an assumption-dependent illustration rather than a promised profit.
For different inputs or formulas, use Mortgage Payment Calculator; Rent Affordability Calculator; Cap Rate Calculator; Pocket Real Estate Master Guide.
Related questions this calculator covers
- Home rent versus buy with closing and selling costs
- Remaining mortgage balance and recoverable equity
- Opportunity-cost assumptions and year-by-year comparison
Scenario comparison
| Scenario | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Zero-rate identity | The worked 100,000 home example has equal principal cash outflow and recovered equity, giving zero buying net cost before other expenses. |
| Selling friction | Adding a 5% selling fee to that stable-value example adds 5,000 to buying net cost. |
| Longer horizon | Mortgage balance falls under amortization, but rent growth, ownership expenses and alternative returns also accumulate. |
Common mistakes to avoid
- Comparing only rent with the mortgage payment and omitting other ownership costs.
- Adding principal payments to expenses while forgetting the remaining debt in sale equity.
- Using a gross advertised return as though it were a net effective annual alternative return.
Start with zero loan interest, zero value growth, zero alternative return and zero extra costs. Verify payment and remaining principal by simple division. Then introduce one fee or cost at a time. Compare a realistic mortgage balance with an independent amortization schedule and retain the CSV of the submitted scenario.
Authoritative reference and additional source reference. CFPB explains the additional costs of ownership and transaction disclosures. The monthly cash-flow and opportunity-cost comparison is SolvePilot’s own disclosed model, not financial advice or the NYT method.Keep affordability separate from relative cost
An option can be cheaper over the modeled horizon while requiring an upfront payment you cannot comfortably make. Buying cash at the start includes the down payment and buying fees. Renting cash at the start includes the deposit and nonrefundable fees. Compare those cash requirements with your actual available funds separately from the net-cost result, and preserve an emergency reserve according to your own circumstances.
The tool assumes both paths can be financed and followed as entered. It does not test lender approval, income stability, liquidity or the availability of a comparable rental. A numerical advantage cannot replace those conditions. The common horizon allows a fairer cash-flow comparison, but the decision can also involve flexibility, maintenance responsibility, housing quality and personal priorities that are intentionally absent from the arithmetic.
Understand the timing convention
Upfront costs begin accumulating at month zero. Each month, the accumulated value grows by the effective monthly alternative rate before that month’s housing expense is added. This means an expense at the end of the final month has no remaining opportunity-growth period. Changing to beginning-of-month costs would be a different convention and could change the result. The chosen sequence is kept consistent for buying and renting.
Rent and other ownership costs change at annual boundaries under the entered growth assumptions. Renter insurance and other renter extras stay constant in this model. Home value is assessed at each year end, and the remaining debt is deducted from net selling proceeds. The refundable rental deposit is returned at its original amount at that same horizon. Review these conventions before comparing this result with another calculator.
Use the year-by-year table to test the story
A single final difference can conceal how the comparison evolves. The table shows net costs and remaining mortgage at each year end. Download the CSV to inspect home value, nominal cash outflows and the net-cost difference together. If buying becomes cheaper at one year and more expensive later, do not assume there is a permanent break-even point. Rates and costs can create several crossings or none.
Test at least a lower home-growth scenario and a higher ownership-cost scenario when those assumptions are uncertain. Change one input at a time so the cause of the difference remains visible. A comparison with optimistic home growth and an unusually low alternative return can favor buying by construction; the calculator cannot decide whether those assumptions are plausible for your situation.
What can affect the result?
Other ownership costs
The annual input must include applicable costs outside principal and interest. A low payment does not remove maintenance, insurance, taxes or association charges. The worksheet applies your selected annual change to this combined amount.
Home value and selling
Year-end modeled sale value uses your home-value growth rate and selling-cost percentage. Remaining mortgage debt is deducted separately. A negative sale equity scenario remains visible instead of being clamped into a favorable answer.
Alternative return
The supplied net effective annual return represents the opportunity-cost assumption. It is converted to a monthly effective rate. This is not a market forecast, guaranteed return or gross return before the taxes and fees you intended to exclude.
Equal horizon
Comparing five years of renting with thirty years of mortgage payments mixes periods. This model uses the same horizon and stops scheduled loan payments after the entered term while other ownership costs continue.
Privacy and browser processing
Values entered on this page are processed in the current browser session. SolvePilot does not require an account and does not receive the values entered into the calculator. Refreshing or closing the page clears the working values unless the browser itself restores a previous session. Avoid entering identifying or account information because the calculation needs summary values only.
Accuracy and verification
Accuracy depends first on input quality. Confirm definitions, scales, dates and source information before entering a value. Keep an independent record of any result used for planning because this page does not create an official statement or retain a calculation history.
Limits of this estimate
Fixed-rate, monthly, user-assumed scenarios with whole-year terms and horizons up to fifty years. No tax deductions, capital-gains tax, PMI cancellation schedule, investment volatility, transaction qualification, adjustable rate, refinancing, early repayment or housing-quality adjustment is modeled. Refundable deposits are assumed fully returned. The NYT branded method is not replicated.
Sources and review information
Frequently asked questions
How does this rent vs buy calculator compare the options?＋
It puts each path’s cash outflows on the same horizon-date basis using your alternative return, then subtracts modeled recoverable sale equity or returned deposit.
Does it include the remaining mortgage?＋
Yes. The remaining loan balance is subtracted from modeled sale proceeds at each year end. Principal payments are also included in monthly cash outflows, avoiding a free-equity assumption.
Is this the NYT rent vs buy calculator?＋
No. It is an independent model with disclosed cash-flow conventions and no automatic tax deductions. It does not reproduce The New York Times calculator or imply affiliation.
What should I put in other ownership costs?＋
Include applicable property taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance, association fees, maintenance and other recurring ownership costs that are not already part of principal and interest.
What if the alternative investment return is zero?＋
The accumulated costs become nominal cash totals. Sale equity and the returned deposit are still deducted, which makes zero-return cases useful for checking the model.