Model the full lifetime cost of owning versus renting (stamp duty, mortgage, upkeep, selling fees and the opportunity cost of your capital) to see which truly leaves you wealthier.
The home, your deposit and how long you'll stay
100% LTV mortgage
First-time buyer relief doesn't apply to additional properties.
Repayment mortgage on the borrowed amount
One-off frictions of getting in and out
What a renter never pays, but an owner does
The alternative: rent, and how fast it rises
Growth, the return on money invested instead, and tax on gains
The cash you'd otherwise tie up buying. Flex down if you wouldn't invest all of it.
Investments are sheltered up to this each year (tax-free). Anything above sits in a taxable account and its gains are taxed at sale. Set £0 for none, or double if investing jointly.
Two people with the same budget are compared. The buyer spends their cash on the deposit and fees; the renter invests that same cash and keeps investing whatever they save each month. After your chosen horizon we compare total net worth, the fairest way to settle rent vs buy.
Included:
Assumed / excluded: Council tax, utilities and bills are treated as equal in both cases and cancel out. Renovation is treated as a capital improvement for CGT but is not auto-added to resale value, and routine repairs/maintenance would not be CGT-deductible. Capital gains realised by the renter are assumed taken in a single year; capital losses are not carried beyond the scenario. The model does not assume you gradually move existing taxable holdings into your ISA over time ("Bed & ISA"), so for a large day-1 lump it is a cautious (slightly high) estimate of the investment tax. Figures are nominal (not inflation-adjusted). SDLT optionally includes the 5% higher rate for additional dwellings and the 2% non-UK-resident surcharge (which stack); other reliefs (e.g. multiple-dwellings, mixed-use, lettings relief) are not modelled.
Not financial advice. A model is only as good as its inputs, so stress-test the growth, return and tax assumptions.
Equity from your deposit and repayments, plus the home's growth and any spare cash invested.
Your deposit invested up front, the monthly rent savings added, and the compounding growth on top.
The solid dark line is your actual net worth. The gap between it and the top of the stack is what's lost to selling costs and tax, which is why the bars total slightly more than the line.
Estimates for illustration only · England & Northern Ireland SDLT · Repayment mortgage assumed · Not financial, tax or mortgage advice · Always confirm figures with a qualified adviser before deciding.
It depends almost entirely on how long you stay and what happens to house prices versus investment returns. In the short term renting is often cheaper once you count stamp duty, legal fees and the cash tied up in a deposit. Over longer periods, owning usually wins because mortgage payments build equity while rent builds nothing, and rents tend to rise each year. There is no universal answer, which is exactly why this calculator compares your own numbers and shows the year your decision flips.
A common rule of thumb is around five years, but it varies a lot with your deposit, mortgage rate, the costs of buying and selling, and house-price growth. The calculator works out your exact break-even point, the year owning overtakes renting and investing the difference, and shows it on the chart. If you might move before then, renting can leave you better off.
Not necessarily. Rent buys you flexibility and freedom from maintenance, and a renter who invests the money a buyer ties up in a deposit and fees can build wealth too. Owners also spend money that never comes back, mortgage interest, stamp duty, maintenance and selling costs. The fair comparison is total net worth at the end, after both people have invested whatever they did not spend on housing, which is what this tool measures.
The main extras are Stamp Duty Land Tax, legal and conveyancing fees, a survey, mortgage arrangement fees, and any renovation. While you own, expect maintenance and repairs (often estimated at around 1% of the home's value a year), buildings insurance, and service charge or ground rent on a leasehold. When you sell, estate agent and legal fees apply. The calculator includes all of these so the comparison is realistic.
For England and Northern Ireland (2025/26), there is no SDLT below £125,000, then 2% to £250,000, 5% to £925,000, 10% to £1.5m and 12% above. First-time buyers pay nothing up to £300,000 and 5% on the portion from £300,000 to £500,000, with no relief above £500,000. A second home or buy-to-let adds a 5% surcharge, and non-UK residents add a further 2%. Set your situation at the top of the calculator and it works out the exact figure.
Buying with cash removes mortgage interest entirely and gives certainty, but it also ties up a large sum that could otherwise be invested. Whether that is the better move depends on your investment return versus house-price growth and your mortgage rate. Set the deposit slider to 100% to model an unlevered cash purchase and compare it directly against renting and investing the same money.
Yes. A main home is exempt from Capital Gains Tax, but a second home or buy-to-let is not, so the tool applies CGT on the gain at sale where relevant. On the renting side it shelters investments in an ISA up to the annual allowance (£20,000) and taxes gains on anything held above that. This keeps the buy and rent sides on a genuinely fair, after-tax footing.
It is completely free and instant, with no sign-up. It is an educational model, not financial, tax or mortgage advice. A result is only as good as the assumptions you put in, especially house-price growth and investment return, which no one can predict, so it is worth stress-testing those sliders. For a decision this large, confirm the figures with a qualified mortgage adviser or financial planner.