Loading prices…
Ctrl Alt Decidectrlaltdecide.com
Pick where you rented and when. This replays real house prices, rents and mortgage rates from that year to the latest month.
Loading prices…
Ctrl Alt Decidectrlaltdecide.com
Total paid on each path since you'd have bought, then what each has to show for it today.
| Bought | Rented |
|---|
Both paths start with the same savings and spend the same each month. The buyer uses the savings for the deposit and buying costs; the renter keeps them invested. Each month, whichever path costs less invests the difference. Unless you enter your own, the home price and rent are the area averages for the month you'd have bought (for US metros, Zillow's typical home value), and the mortgage rate is the national average for a new mortgage that month: the Bank of England two-year fix at 75% loan to value, or Freddie Mac's 30-year fixed. A price or rent you enter moves with the local average from then on, so a home 20% above average stays 20% above. An own mortgage rate keeps the same gap to the going rate when it's refixed. UK mortgages default to refixing every two years at the going two-year rate; US mortgages default to a 30-year fixed. Selling costs and income tax are left out. US property tax is the metro's median tax bill over its median home value (Census ACS 2023), charged on the home's value each year (a few small metros with no metro table use their state's rate, and the hint says so); in California and other states that cap assessments, a new buyer usually pays more than that median. Northern Ireland rents publish a month behind the rest of the UK, so their last month carries forward. PMI stops once the loan falls to 78% of the purchase price. UK stamp duty uses the rules in force on the purchase date for England and Northern Ireland, Scotland (LBTT) or Wales (LTT).
This rent vs buy calculator replays renting vs buying a house in one place from a year you pick, on real prices, rents and mortgage rates. It works by location, across more than 600 places: UK regions, council areas and London boroughs, and US metro areas. The purchase happens in January of a year between 2015 and 2025 (a few US metros start later), and both paths run to the latest month of data.
It is a rent or buy comparison with opportunity cost built in. Both paths start with the same savings and spend the same each month. The buyer puts the savings into the deposit (the down payment in the US) and buying costs; the renter keeps them invested. Each month the buyer pays the mortgage and upkeep, plus property tax, home insurance and PMI in the US, while the renter pays rent. Whichever path costs less that month invests the difference. The result is the gap today between the buyer's home equity plus savings and the renter's savings.
For the place and month you choose, it fills in the average home price, rent and national mortgage rate, each tagged AVG; type over any of them, or the deposit. UK buyers pay stamp duty under the rules of the day and, by default, remortgage onto a new two-year fix every two years. US buyers get a 30-year fixed, closing costs and the metro's property tax rate. Selling costs and income tax are left out.
These use the calculator's starting figures for one UK case and one US case, and are refreshed when the data updates.
Had you bought an average home in London in January 2015 with a 10% deposit, by Jul 2026 you'd be £141,000 better off having bought.
Had you bought a typical home in New York, NY in January 2015 with a 10% down payment, by Aug 2026 you'd be $274,000 better off having bought.
This page can't answer that for the years ahead, because it replays what already happened. Pick your area and start year above to see whether buying or renting left someone further ahead since then, on real prices, rents and mortgage rates. It doesn't know your income, how long you'll stay or where prices go next, so the result is history rather than a forecast.
Tap London or New York above to see. The monthly bill is only part of it: the calculator also counts what the home gained or lost in value, stamp duty or closing costs, and what the renter's savings earned. The answer can change with the start year, so try a few.
This one covers UK regions, council areas and London boroughs as well as US metros. For UK places it uses Land Registry prices, ONS rents and the Bank of England two-year fix, and adds stamp duty (LBTT in Scotland, LTT in Wales) under the rules in force at the time, with first-time buyer relief. It doesn't model Help to Buy, shared ownership or Lifetime ISA bonuses.
One that counts what the deposit could have earned if it hadn't gone into a house. Here the renter keeps the deposit and buying costs invested at the return set under Assumptions (5% a year by default, or 0%, 3% or 7%), and whichever path costs less each month invests the difference too. The return is a steady rate rather than a real market index, and no tax is taken off it.
Rent is spent in full, but so is much of what an owner pays: mortgage interest, stamp duty or closing costs, upkeep and, in the US, property tax and PMI. The "Where the money went" table shows what each path paid and what each has to show for it today. Whether renting came out behind depends on the place, the year and how the renter's savings grew.
Selling costs, income tax and tax on investment gains are left out, and so are ISAs, pensions, 401(k)s and the US mortgage interest deduction. Service charges, ground rent and HOA fees have no line of their own; upkeep (1% of the home's value a year by default) stands in for running costs. Mortgage rates are national averages, not a particular lender's.