Rent vs Buy

This comparison is decided mostly by one input people treat as an afterthought: how long you stay. Buying carries large one-off costs at both ends — closing costs on purchase, and agent commission plus transfer costs on sale, commonly several percent of the price each time. Those costs are spread across the years you own. A short stay concentrates them into a small number of years and renting usually wins; a long stay dilutes them and buying usually wins.

The comparison is also more even than the common framing suggests. "Renting is throwing money away" ignores that a substantial part of an early mortgage payment is interest, which builds no equity either, alongside property tax, insurance, and maintenance, none of which are recoverable. Only the principal portion converts to equity, and in early years that portion is small.

The input most often omitted is opportunity cost. A down payment invested elsewhere would have earned a return, and a rigorous comparison counts that forgone return as a cost of buying. Leave it out and buying looks better than it is. Maintenance is the other reliable omission — owners carry repairs and replacement that renters do not, and it recurs rather than being one-off.

None of this settles the decision, because the non-financial factors are real. Owning offers stability, control over the property, and a fixed principal-and-interest payment that inflation erodes in real terms. Renting offers mobility, a predictable ceiling on unexpected costs, and no exposure to a single asset in a single location. Run the numbers, then weigh them against how likely you are to move. Everything runs in your browser — no login, no upload, and no figure you enter leaves the page.