eState home
Financial tools

Rent vs Mortgage

Renting is not money down the drain, and buying is not automatically an investment. Compare both over the years you actually plan to stay.

Your numbers

How long you plan to stay

10 years

If you buy

€

€

%

%

%

Tax, insurance and upkeep, as a share of value

%

%

Agent and legal fees when you eventually sell

Mortgage term

25 years

If you rent

€

%

%

What your deposit earns if you invest it instead

After 10 years

Renting leaves you €51 better off

Buying does not pull ahead within this period.

If you buy

-€3,642

€190,662 of equity, less €10,079 to sell

If you rent

-€3,591

€123,810 paid in rent, plus €14,341 earned on spare cash
Net position is what you own minus the cash you have paid out along the way. The renter invests both the deposit a buyer would have tied up and the monthly difference between renting and owning; the buyer's equity is shown after the cost of selling.

Net position, year by year

What you own minus what you have paid out. Where the lines cross is the year buying starts to win.

  • Buying
  • Renting
Estimates only, for guidance. The result swings heavily on property growth, rent growth and investment return — treat those three as guesses, not forecasts, and try a pessimistic set before deciding anything.