Australian Rent vs Buy Calculator

This calculator aims to help you estimate the relative merits of buying versus rent-vesting. It roughly models the effects of changes in returns in equities (or any other investment) and real estate and provides a comparison of outcomes for the given investment horizon.

If you are unsure about any of the values (like CPI, growth rates, etc), feel free to use the defaults.

For a longer discussion, please see this blog post.

Please note that this is not financial advice.

Basic Details

Property Price ($)

The price of the property.

Deposit - excluding fees ($)

The initial deposit being used. Note that this excludes the purchase costs.

Loan Term (years)

Length of the loan, in years. Results are generated based on this.

Interest Rate (% per year)

Expected interest rate over the life of the mortgage. This is hard to predict, which is why this calculator is helpful in getting an idea of the various scenarios by fiddling with numbers like this to see the results.

Purchase Costs ($)

This should include legal/conveyancing fees, inspections, and, importantly, stamp duty, if applicable.

Strata and Insurance ($ per year)

Only building insurance should be included here, since contents insurance would be paid in a rental property too. Strata is zero for non-strata titles.

Water and Rates ($ per year)

Water charges and rates. As with repairs, tend to be higher for houses and lower for apartments.

Repair and Maintenance ($ per year)

Repair and maintenance costs. Higher for houses and lower for apartments. But then apartments tend to have strata expenses, so it evens out somewhat.