Rent vs Buy Calculator (UK)

When does buying a home beat renting the same home and investing the difference? Pick your region for official average prices and rents, change anything you like, and see the break-even year. Everything runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere.

For information only, not financial advice

This calculator compares two simplified scenarios using the assumptions you enter. It does not know your income, credit record, tax position or what a lender will offer you, and nobody knows future house prices, rents or interest rates. Speak to a regulated mortgage adviser or financial adviser before making a decision.

1. The home

Presets are the average price (HM Land Registry, July 2026) and average monthly private rent (ONS, July 2026) for the region and property type.

What you would pay to buy the home.
What it would cost to rent a comparable home. This, relative to the price, drives the result.

2. The mortgage

Default rates are the Bank of England's average quoted 2-year fixed rates for September 2026.

The renter invests this sum instead. Rate default switches to the 75% LTV rate at 25% or more.
Applied for the whole period; a product fee is charged each time you re-fix (every 2 years).
Capital repayment mortgage. Repayments build equity, so they are not counted as a cost.
Rates in force October 2026. Wales has no first-time buyer relief.

3. The future

Defaults are England's average over July 2005 to July 2026. These three inputs matter most; try changing them.

You sell (or stop renting) after this many years.
The single most important assumption. 2005-26 average: 3.0%.
Rent is reset once a year. 2005-26 average: 3.0%.
What the renter earns on the deposit and monthly savings, tax-free in an ISA. 5% is the FCA's intermediate projection rate.
Running costs and fees (pre-filled, editable)
1% is a common rule of thumb for houses; 0.5% for flats, where the service charge covers communal repairs.
Houses: buildings insurance (ABI average £306). Flats: service charge (Hamptons: £2,405; London £2,801). Grows 2% a year.
Conveyancing plus mortgage product fee. Stamp duty and a survey are added automatically.
Including VAT. HomeOwners Alliance 2026 average: 1.42%.
Break-even
When you move
Cash needed up front

Net wealth over 30 years

Buyer: home value minus mortgage and selling costs, plus savingsRenter: investments

Amounts are in future pounds (not adjusted for inflation). The dot marks break-even. Both households spend the same amount each month: whoever's housing costs less invests the difference.

Read the analysis: is renting really dead money?

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Disclosure: some links on this page may be affiliate links. If you use them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects our analysis or the calculator's results.

How the calculator works

Two households want the same home. The buyer pays a deposit, stamp duty (or LBTT/LTT), conveyancing, a survey and a mortgage product fee, then pays the mortgage, maintenance, insurance (or a service charge for a flat) and a new product fee every two years. The renter pays rent and invests the deposit and the buyer's upfront costs. Each month, whichever household has the lower housing bill invests the difference, so both have spent exactly the same.

When the buyer sells, they pay an estate agent and solicitor. The break-even year is the first month in which the buyer's net wealth (home value, minus the mortgage still owed, minus selling costs, plus any savings) is at least the renter's.

  • Capital repayments are not a cost: they come back as equity when you sell.
  • Mortgage interest, maintenance, insurance, fees and stamp duty are just as unrecoverable as rent. Only house-price growth offsets them.
  • Investment growth is assumed tax-free (an ISA). Gains on your main home are free of capital gains tax.
  • The rate stays fixed at the level you enter. In reality you re-fix at whatever the market offers.

Data: HM Land Registry UK House Price Index (July 2026); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (21 October 2026 release); Bank of England quoted household interest rates (September 2026); HMRC, Revenue Scotland and Welsh Revenue Authority tax rates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full methodology, code and data are in the article.