Rent vs Buy Calculator

Beyond the numbers

Buying isn't purely financial — stability, the freedom to renovate, and not facing annual rent increases all carry weight. This tool focuses on the dollar comparison so you can see the financial trade-off clearly before you weigh up the lifestyle side.

How the comparison works

Renting costs you rent, plus whatever your deposit would have earned had you invested it instead. Buying costs you interest, rates, insurance and maintenance, offset by the principal you repay and any growth in the property's value. The calculator nets these off over your chosen time horizon so you can see the break-even point — the year at which buying stops being more expensive than renting.

The two inputs that move the result most are property growth and your time horizon. Because entry costs (stamp duty, conveyancing, LMI) are paid once and never recovered, short holding periods heavily favour renting. Most Australian buyers reach break-even somewhere between year four and year eight, which is why "how long will I stay?" is the honest first question, not "what will it grow by?".

Worked example

Take a $700,000 unit versus renting a similar one for $600 a week. With a 10% deposit, entry costs of about $40,000 and a 6.0% rate, ownership costs roughly $4,030 a month in repayments plus about $500 a month in rates, insurance and maintenance. Renting costs about $2,600 a month. On cashflow alone renting wins by roughly $1,900 a month — but about $850 of the owner's repayment is principal, and at 3% annual growth the property adds about $21,000 of value a year. Netting all of that off, this buyer passes break-even in roughly year five and is ahead from then on.

Change one assumption — growth of 1% instead of 3% — and break-even pushes out past year ten. That sensitivity is the real lesson: buying is a long-hold strategy, and the calculator is most useful for testing pessimistic scenarios, not optimistic ones.

Costs renters never see

• Council rates and water — commonly $2,500–$4,000 a year combined.
• Building insurance — or strata levies of $2,500–$5,000 a year for apartments.
• Maintenance — budget about 1% of the property value each year over the long run.
• Selling costs — agent commission and marketing, typically 2–3% when you exit.

Keep reading

• The complete first home buyer guide.
• Borrowing power calculator — what a lender would actually offer you.
• Stamp duty calculator — the biggest one-off entry cost.
• The home loan process, step by step.