Changelog

New share previews and site icon

Links to the calculator now look better wherever you share them.

• Each main page has its own preview card for social media and messaging apps, showing current national averages for home prices, rent and mortgage rates, and the date we last checked them.
• When we update those figures, the preview image updates too, so shared links don't keep showing old numbers.
• Pages shared from inside the site now link back to that page, not the home page.
• A new icon for browser tabs, bookmarks and home screens.

Your numbers first

The calculator now asks for your rent, house price and deposit before anything else.

• A new 'Your numbers' section at the top of the form holds your rent, the price of the home you're looking at and your deposit, so they're the first thing you see on a phone or a laptop.
• Rent increases, investment returns, mortgage rate and term, and house price growth now sit together under 'Assumptions', with Advanced options below them.
• Shared links and saved numbers work exactly as before.

Clearer starting numbers

The calculator now says when it's showing national averages rather than your numbers.

• A short prompt at the top of the form explains that we've filled in national averages, and asks for your rent and the price of the home you're looking at.
• Rent, house price and mortgage rate show a 'UK average' or 'NZ average' badge until you change them.
• Until you change a number, the result is labelled as a result for a typical home, with a 'Use your own numbers' button that takes you straight to the rent field.
• Switching rent from monthly to weekly and back now returns exactly the amount you started with.

A fuller How It Works page

The How It Works page now sets out exactly how the calculator reaches its answer, so you can check our working.

• Every formula the calculator uses, written out in full with each term explained.
• A worked example using the default figures, showing the same numbers the calculator gives.
• The reasoning behind each assumption, with public sources where they exist and how much the result changes if you pick a different figure.
• A clear list of what the calculator leaves out, such as tax on investments and selling costs.
• Who publishes the page, when the method was last updated and when the default figures were last reviewed.

Your result stays above the keyboard

On phones, the result bar no longer disappears behind the on-screen keyboard.

• While you type into the calculator on a phone, the result bar now sits just above the keyboard, so you can see how each edit changes the verdict.

Clearer results, always in reach

Your result now reads as a clear verdict and stays in view while you edit.

• Results open with a headline verdict, e.g. 'Buying leaves you £197,777 better off after 20 years', with the buying and renting outcomes side by side in colours that match the chart.
• Figures are shown in whole pounds and dollars; pence implied false precision for a 20-year projection.
• On phones, a bar pinned to the bottom of the screen shows the current verdict as you type. Tap it to jump to your full result.
• On larger screens, the verdict stays on screen as you scroll through the form.

A clearer wealth chart

The wealth-over-time chart has been redesigned to make the answer easier to read at a glance.

• The gap between buying and renting is shaded in the colour of whichever option is ahead, and the crossover year is marked on the chart.
• Hover or tap anywhere on the chart to see every figure for that year, including how far ahead the leading option is.
• Cleaner lines, rounded axis labels (e.g. £200k) and colours chosen to stay distinguishable with common forms of colour blindness.
• Show or hide each line with the buttons above the chart, which now work from the keyboard and with screen readers.
• Every value on the chart is also available as a year-by-year table.

About page and sourced default figures

Added an About page and made every headline default figure traceable to a named, dated source.

• New About page explains who operates the site, why it was built, and that no lender, agent or broker referral income influences the defaults or results.
• The calculator page now shows a sources table for house price, rent and mortgage rate, each linking to its public source with an 'as of' date, plus a 'last reviewed' date and operator byline.
• Refreshed the UK and NZ house price, rent and mortgage rate defaults against their sources, and recalculated UK stamp duty for the new default house price.
• Corrected the Privacy Policy, which described a contact form the site doesn't have; it now lists email and the UserJot feedback board as the actual contact routes.

More accessible page structure and navigation

Fixed heading structure, keyboard navigation, and screen reader support across the site.

• Every page now has exactly one main heading and a persistent top navigation menu (Home, How It Works, About, Changelog).
• Added a 'Skip to main content' link so keyboard users can bypass the header and jump straight to the page content.
• The page language now reflects the full locale (e.g. en-GB, en-NZ) rather than a truncated code, so screen readers use the right pronunciation rules.
• The results chart and its Linear/Logarithmic toggle now announce their state and values to screen readers.
• Removed broken, non-functional tooltip icons that didn't show any content.
• The 'Where our default figures come from' sources table now stacks into readable rows on mobile instead of overflowing the screen.

Council tax included for UK renters

The UK comparison now reflects that council tax is paid by the occupier, whether they rent or buy.

• Council tax is now factored into the UK renting scenario, since in the UK it is paid by the tenant rather than the owner.
• The How It Works page explains the assumption of a comparable rented home so the tax doesn't tilt the comparison.

Analytics reliability fixes

• Repaired the Plausible analytics script so page visits are recorded correctly.

Cleaner chart and clearer inputs

A round of layout work to make the results easier to read at a glance.

• The cost chart now uses a 3:2 aspect ratio and sits at the top of the results for quicker reading.
• Replaced hover tooltips with inline hint text so guidance is visible without hovering.
• Simplified the years axis on the chart and tidied the overall page layout.

Search-engine and metadata improvements

• Added a canonical tag to every page and fixed duplicate heading and description tags.
• Added an Open Graph image so shared links show a preview card.

More accurate results and correct formatting

Several calculation and display bugs were corrected.

• Fixed a bug that could show renting as always more expensive than buying.
• Results now display the correct currency symbol and drop misleading decimal places.
• Corrected the mortgage term shown in the text beneath the chart.

Preset investments and crossover point

• Choose from preset investment options such as global stocks, bonds and cryptocurrencies when setting your expected return.
• The chart now marks the crossover point where buying overtakes renting.