NZ Buy vs Rent Calculator

Make informed property decisions

Use our calculator to compare the long-term costs of buying vs renting a property in NZ. This tool helps you make an informed decision based on your specific financial situation and local property market conditions.

Input Parameters

The current market price of the house you are considering buying.
$
The amount or percentage of the house price you plan to pay upfront.
The annual interest rate on your mortgage.
The number of years over which you will repay the mortgage.
The annual Council Rates as a percentage of the property value or as an absolute amount.
Estimated annual cost for home maintenance and repairs, as a percentage of the home value or as an absolute amount.
The yearly cost of home insurance.
$
The amount you would pay in rent if you were to rent instead of buy.
$
The expected yearly increase in rent prices.

"Preset Investments" allows you to select an investment to compare against.

The expected annual return on investments if you were to invest the money not spent on buying a house.
The expected annual increase in the value of the home.

Results

Total outcome after 20 years:

Buying outcome: £0

Renting & Investing outcome: £0

Overall Difference: £0

Recommendation:

Crossover point:

Buying outcome: Total costs of buying and maintaining the property, minus the final value of the home. A positive number means a net cost.

Renting & Investing outcome: Total rent paid, minus the value of investments. A negative number means a net gain.

Overall Difference: How much better off you'd be financially by choosing the recommended option.

Crossover point: The year when the financially better option changes. Before this point, the other option was better.

Understanding the Results

This calculator compares two scenarios over 25 years:

  1. Buying a home, building equity, and potential property appreciation.
  2. Renting a home and investing the money that would have been used for a down payment and the difference in monthly costs.

The lower net cost indicates the financially advantageous option based on the provided inputs and assumptions.

Want to know more about how this calculator works? Check out our How It Works page.

Understanding Your Results

The calculator compares the total costs of buying and renting over the specified period. It takes into account factors such as mortgage payments, property appreciation, rent increases, and potential investment returns. A lower total cost suggests that option may be more financially advantageous in the long term.