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Buy vs Rent

NZ Buy vs Rent Calculator

Compare the long-term cost of buying vs renting in NZ — free, instant, and no sign-up.

Renting

The amount you would pay in rent if you were to rent instead of buy.

$

The expected yearly increase in rent prices.

Choose manual entry or select from preset investment options.

Expected annual return on investments from your down payment and monthly savings.

Buying

The current market price of the house you are considering buying.

$

Enter as a percentage or fixed amount. Toggle to switch between formats.

The annual interest rate on your mortgage.

The number of years over which you will repay the mortgage.

The expected annual increase in the value of the home.

Advanced options

Enter as a percentage of property value or as a fixed annual amount. Council Rates applies to the buying scenario only.

Annual maintenance and repairs. Enter as a percentage of home value or as a fixed amount.

The yearly cost of home insurance.

$

One-off purchase tax paid on completion. The renter invests this amount instead, so it compounds against buying.

$

One-off solicitor and conveyancing costs paid when buying.

$

One-off cost of furnishing the home and moving in.

$

Your result

Buying leaves you $0 better off after 20 years

Buying
$0
Renting & Investing
$0

Crossover point:

Net wealth over time

Shading shows which option is ahead each year.

Show the chart as a table
Net wealth by year
Year Buying Renting & Investing Home value

Built and maintained by the Buy vs Rent team

A tool we built for NZ property hunters

If you're using this calculator, you're probably at the verge of making a housing decision - either renting long-term or taking the plunge into buying. You've done the hard work of figuring out the numbers.

The next step is finding places to look at. But browsing property in NZ means juggling TradeMe, RealEstate, Homes and OneRoof - often with tabs all over your screen, listings you've forgotten about, and no easy way to compare them.

So we built HouseHunter - a small browser extension that captures listings as you browse and puts them all in one comparison table. One click to save, everything side by side. No signup, no accounts, your data stays on your device.

Try HouseHunter for free

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it cheaper to rent or buy in NZ right now?

There's no single answer - it depends on your deposit, mortgage rate, how long you plan to stay, and how rents and house prices move relative to each other. Enter your own numbers into the calculator above to see which option comes out ahead for your situation.

How much deposit do I need to buy vs keep renting?

We default the calculator to a 10% deposit, a common minimum for many mortgage products, but you can enter any deposit size - as a percentage or a fixed $ amount - in the Buying section of the calculator. A bigger deposit cuts your mortgage interest but leaves less money to invest if you rent instead, so the calculator weighs both sides of that trade-off for you.

What is the crossover point where buying beats renting?

The crossover point is the year in your results when one option overtakes the other in net wealth - for example, when the equity and appreciation you've built up by buying finally outweighs what your rent-scenario investments have grown to. Run your numbers through the calculator and check the "Crossover point" figure under your results.

Does buying build more wealth than renting and investing the difference?

It can, but it isn't guaranteed - it depends on how home appreciation compares to your investment returns, and how large the gap is between your mortgage payment and rent. Our calculator runs a year-by-year simulation of both scenarios so you can compare final net worth using your own numbers; see How It Works for the full methodology.

How does Stamp Duty affect the comparison?

New Zealand doesn't charge stamp duty on residential property purchases, so our NZ default is $0. Any one-off purchase costs you do add (legal fees, furnishing) are treated the same way in the calculator - as money the renter invests instead, compounding against buying over time.

How does Council Rates affect the comparison, and is it charged to renters too?

Council Rates is charged to the buying scenario only, since in New Zealand it is paid by the property owner rather than the tenant. It isn't added to the renting scenario.

What assumptions does the calculator make, and can I change them?

We pre-fill realistic NZ defaults for things like mortgage rate, home appreciation and investment returns, based on current market data. Every one of them is editable - open "Advanced options" in the Buying section of the calculator to adjust Council Rates, maintenance, insurance, Stamp Duty and more, or edit any of the headline fields directly.

What doesn't this calculator account for?

The calculator assumes constant rates for home appreciation and investment returns, which can vary a lot in reality. It doesn't account for potential tax benefits of homeownership, which differ by individual circumstances, and it's a purely financial comparison - it doesn't weigh non-financial factors like stability, flexibility or lifestyle that might also influence your decision. See How It Works for the full list of assumptions and limitations.