CalculatorsBuying
Buy or Rent
What buying and renting would each leave you with, year by year, and the year buying pulls ahead.
When buying pulls ahead
Estimates only. Not a loan approval, commitment, or offer to lend. Compensation is always negotiable.
Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS). National average for the week of November 12, 2026. It is an average for conventional purchase loans, not an offer of credit and not an APR.
How we calculate this
- What is compared. What each choice would leave you with at the end of each year. For owning, that is the home’s value less the loan balance and the cost of selling. For renting, it is the down payment and closing costs you kept, plus what renting saved you each month.
- Owning costs. The loan payment, mortgage insurance, property tax, homeowners insurance, HOA dues, and upkeep at 1% of the home’s value a year. The first month owning includes that upkeep. In DeKalb, Gwinnett and the City of Atlanta, owning also counts an estimate of the yearly charges for sanitation, stormwater or trash service, which are not taxes.
- Homestead exemption. Property tax is counted with no homestead exemption in the first year and with one from the second year on, because the exemption starts the January 1 after you buy, if you file with the county in time.
- Growth. Home value grows 4% a year and rent rises 3% a year to start, and both are yours to change. Property tax and insurance rise 3% a year.
- Selling. The cost of selling is 1% of the price plus the commission you enter. The commission starts at 6% so the comparison has a figure to work with. Compensation is always negotiable, and you can set it to any number.
- Investing. Unchecked, the money a renter keeps is counted as saved and earns nothing. Checked, it earns the yearly return you enter.
- Left out. Income tax effects, including the mortgage interest deduction and tax on investment gains. This is not tax advice.
See the breakdown
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