Rent vs. Buy Net Worth Calculator · Generated September 26, 2026
Rent vs. Buy Net Worth Calculator
Every rent-vs-buy calculator tells you which costs less. This one projects which leaves you wealthier — netting out home equity against what a renter would actually invest instead — across three home-appreciation scenarios, so the answer isn't hostage to one guess.
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Home appreciation is the single most consequential guessed number in any rent-vs-buy comparison. Rather than pick one, this shows all three so the answer isn't hostage to a guess — it's easy to just pick whichever tier confirms what you already wanted to do. If you're unsure, plan around conservative and treat average/high as upside, not the expectation; that's why it's the default here.
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Buying's transaction costs (closing, selling) are modeled above — renting has real friction too, since a lease usually doesn't last forever. This amortizes an average moving cost (deposits, broker fees, a truck) into the monthly rent-side cost, based on how often you expect to move. Set the frequency to 0 to turn this off entirely.
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Every month, whichever option costs less banks the difference — invested at the rate below, but only at your realistic investing discipline, not assumed at 100%. Research (Bernstein & Koudijs, Quarterly Journal of Economics 2024) supports the general finding that people invest close to 100% of what a mortgage forces them to repay but rarely match that discipline on an unforced savings difference — the 70% default here is this tool's own illustrative estimate of that gap, not a figure taken from the study itself, so treat it as a starting point and adjust it to your own track record.
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What's not having a landlord — no lease non-renewal risk, no surprise rent hikes — worth to you per month? Defaults to $0 so it never puts a number on your feelings for you; set it only if you have a real one.
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Only used for the affordability check below — whether your starting monthly payment looks comfortable today, the same one-time snapshot lenders use, not a bet on what your income does over the years you own. Income isn't projected forward, so nothing else on this page depends on it.
Your net worth, either way
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Independent of the time-horizon slider above, which means something different (how long you plan to stay) — this always checks a fixed 30-year run to find when buying's net worth first catches renting's, at your other current settings. It's the first crossover, not a guarantee buying stays ahead every year after that.
Across all three appreciation scenarios
If you're not sure which to expect, plan around conservative — treat average and high as possible upside, not the number to bank on.
Net worth over time
X-axis is years from now. Where the lines cross is when the answer flips — worth checking against your own time horizon above.
Liquid vs. illiquid, at your time horizon
Beyond the dollars
Rent vs. buy isn't purely a financial decision, and treating it like one misses something real. National surveys from NAR and Zillow consistently find people cite stability and control over their own space as reasons to buy at least as often as financial ones. And the regret isn't symmetric either — people who wanted to buy but stayed renting tend to report more regret than people who bought at a less-than-ideal time, a pattern closer to regret-minimization than pure return-chasing.
That's why this calculator has a "value of stability" input instead of ignoring the question: it lets you put a number on not having a landlord if you have one, without assuming everyone values it the same — or forcing a number on you if you don't. The other side of that coin is real too: research on "house poor" households finds regret climbs sharply once housing costs cross roughly 30% of income, usually from unexpected maintenance costs hitting an already-tight budget — which is exactly what the affordability warning above is checking for.
What this doesn't account for
- • The mortgage interest tax deduction — most homeowners now take the standard deduction instead of itemizing, so modeling it as universal would overstate buying for most users.
- • Capital gains tax on investment growth, or on home-sale profit above the personal exemption.
- • Property tax and insurance rate changes over time — both are held at today's rate, scaled only by home value.
- • Real market volatility — home appreciation and investment returns are modeled as constant, not as a real, bumpy sequence of years.
Questions
Why net worth instead of a breakeven year or monthly cost?
Most rent-vs-buy calculators answer "which costs less?" — a breakeven year, or a monthly cost difference. That skips the money on both sides that isn't spent: home equity building on one side, and whatever the renter invests instead on the other. This calculator nets both out into one number — projected net worth — so it's actually comparable to the rest of your financial picture, not just a housing-budget line item.
Why three appreciation scenarios instead of one number?
Home appreciation is the single most consequential guess in any rent-vs-buy comparison, and nobody actually knows their specific home's future rate. Rather than pick one and imply false precision, this shows conservative (2%/yr), average (3.5%/yr), and high (5%/yr) side by side, so the verdict isn't hostage to one guess — and you can see whether buying only wins under optimistic appreciation, or wins even in the conservative case.
What is "investing discipline" and why isn't it 100%?
Whichever option costs less in a given month, this calculator assumes the difference gets invested — but real research on forced savings (Bernstein & Koudijs, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2024) supports the general finding that people reliably invest close to 100% of what a mortgage payment forces them to repay, but rarely invest a savings difference with the same discipline when nothing forces it. Defaulting to 100% would flatter renting; the 70% default is this tool's own illustrative estimate of that gap, not a number taken from the study, so this input lets you set your own realistic number instead of assuming perfect behavior.
What is "value of stability" and why does it default to $0?
Owning removes lease non-renewal risk and surprise rent increases — a real benefit, but not one with an obvious dollar value, and not one everyone weighs the same. This input lets you put a monthly dollar figure on it if you have one; it defaults to $0 so the calculator never quietly puts a number on your feelings for you.
Does this account for the mortgage interest tax deduction?
No, deliberately. Most homeowners now take the standard deduction rather than itemizing since it roughly doubled in 2018, so the deduction applies to a minority of buyers and its value varies widely by income and loan size. Modeling it as a universal benefit would overstate buying's advantage for most users; see "what this doesn't account for" below.
Isn't rent vs. buy also an emotional decision, not just a financial one?
Often, yes — surveys from NAR and Zillow consistently find people cite stability and control over their space as reasons to buy at least as often as financial ones, and renters who wanted to buy but didn't often report more regret than buyers who bought at a bad time (a regret-minimization pattern, not a pure-return one). This calculator can't quantify that for you, which is exactly why the "value of stability" input exists as an honest, optional way to include it — and why the numbers here are a input to the decision, not the whole decision.
What does the affordability warning mean?
If buying puts your monthly housing cost above 30% of gross income, this calculator flags it. That threshold is where research on "house poor" households shows meaningfully higher regret — usually driven by unexpected maintenance costs colliding with an already-tight budget, not by owning itself. It's a warning to look closer, not a hard rule.
Is this financial advice?
No. This doesn't model the mortgage interest tax deduction, capital gains tax on investment growth, or property tax/insurance changes over time, and it assumes constant appreciation and investment returns rather than real market volatility. It isn't personalized financial, tax, or legal advice. See our Terms of Use.
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