--- title: "Rent vs Buy Calculator 2026: 5 and 10-Year Break-Even (NZ)" url: https://decisionscalc.com/nz/tools/rent-vs-buy-calculator/ description: "Free, no sign-up: compare renting and buying over any number of years with closing costs, property tax. NZ figures in $." publisher: DecisionsCalc note: General information, not financial, tax or legal advice. Figures name their source and the date they were read. --- [NZ · figures as of 2026-11](https://decisionscalc.com/methodology/) Figures checked 8 Nov 20265 figures in our [register](https://decisionscalc.com/methodology/#figure-register)Next review 12 Dec 2026[Report an error](mailto:hello@decisionscalc.com?subject=Possible%20error%20on%20%2Fnz%2Ftools%2Frent-vs-buy-calculator%2F) Growing Family # Rent vs. Buy Calculator The real comparison goes beyond monthly payment. This calculator accounts for opportunity cost, appreciation, maintenance, tax benefits, and net wealth over time. ### Detailed Comparison & Break-Even ## Worked example: New Zealand, latest figures At the default figures above — a $892,600 home with 20% down at 5.09%, against rent of $2,600 a month — the model gives: - **Stay 5 years:** renting comes out $27,700 ahead. - **Stay 10 years:** renting comes out $14,000 ahead. - **Break-even:** buying first comes out ahead after 14 years. - **Upfront cost of buying:** $178,500 deposit plus $17,900 in transfer tax and fees. Transaction costs in this version: buying costs of 2% of the price (transfer tax plus legal and lender fees) and 2% (agent commission) on sale. Change any figure above to run your own home, rent and timeline. ## How this comparison works Most rent-versus-buy sums compare rent with the mortgage payment. That is not the comparison, and it is why so many of them favour buying. Against rent you have to set the **full cost of owning** — mortgage interest, property tax, insurance, maintenance and any service charge — while the principal portion of a payment is saving, not spending. The other half is the part people leave out entirely. A renter who does not put down a deposit still has that money, and a renter whose monthly housing cost is lower than an owner's has the difference too. This tool invests both, at the return you set, and counts the result on the renting side. Remove that and renting always loses, which is the single most common flaw in a rent-versus-buy calculation. ## Why the time horizon decides it Buying carries heavy one-off costs at both ends — transfer taxes and fees going in, agent commission going out — and they are recovered slowly. That makes **how long you stay** the dominant variable, ahead of price, rent or even the interest rate. Below roughly five years the transaction costs usually swamp everything else. Beyond ten, buying usually wins. The interesting cases sit in between, which is exactly where a calculation earns its keep and a rule of thumb does not. ## Reading the break-even year The chart shows the net cost of each path over thirty years, and the break-even marker is the first year at which buying is genuinely cheaper — the same calculation as the headline, run for every horizon, so the verdict and the marker can never disagree. A break-even beyond your realistic horizon is the clearest signal the tool gives. If it lands at year twelve and you expect to move in five, the answer is not "buy and hope"; it is that renting is cheaper for the life you actually expect to lead. ## What moves the answer most - **Years you will stay.** Nothing else comes close. - **The gap between rent and the full cost of owning.** Where rent is far below that cost, the invested difference compounds and renting strengthens with time rather than weakening. - **The assumed investment return against house price growth.** These two fight each other, and the spread between them matters more than either number alone. - **Transaction costs.** They differ enormously — under 1% of the price in some markets and over 5% in others — and they are paid in cash on top of the deposit. ## What the model does not include Worth being explicit, because these are real and they cut both ways. It does not price security of tenure, which is worth a great deal where leases are short. It does not price the flexibility a renter keeps, which matters most early in a career. It assumes the renter actually invests the difference, which many people do not — a mortgage is forced saving and that is a genuine advantage of buying for anyone who would otherwise spend it. It also treats the figures you enter as steady. Real mortgage rates reset, real rents rise unevenly, and real maintenance arrives in lumps. **Data sources & methodology:** Mortgage amortization using standard formula. Property tax applied annually. Maintenance modeled at 1% of home value/yr. Transaction costs: buying costs of 2% of the price (transfer tax plus legal and lender fees) and 2% (agent commission) on sale. Opportunity cost = down payment invested at stated return. Rent savings invested at same rate. Results are estimates — not financial advice. [Disclaimer →](https://decisionscalc.com/disclaimer/) ## What changes in New Zealand - There is **no stamp duty** on buying a home in New Zealand, so the upfront cost of buying is mostly the deposit, legal fees and any lender fees. - The Reserve Bank’s loan-to-value rules let banks make only **25% of new owner-occupier lending above 80% LVR**, so a 20% deposit is the normal starting point, and debt-to-income limits apply above six times income. - Rents have been close to flat: Stats NZ’s flow measure of rents rose **0.9% in the year to September 2026**, so the rent-increase input is worth setting from your own lease. - Selling a home you have lived in is outside the bright-line test, so a gain on your main home is not taxed. **Data reference (New Zealand):** QV House Price Index, September 2026 (national average value $892,580); RBNZ B30 new 2-year fixed rate 5.09% (September 2026); MBIE Tenancy Services bond data, August 2026 (national median rent $595/week ≈ $2,578/month); Stats NZ HES year ended June 2023 (local authority rates $43.90/week averaged over all households ≈ $2,283/yr); RBNZ LVR settings (14 August 2026); Transaction costs: buy-side closing (legal, survey, lender fees; excludes transfer tax/stamp duty) and sell-side agent commission incl. local GST · figures as of 2026-11 · Price, rate, rent, rates and the 20% deposit read on 2026-11-03 against the named sources. The rates figure is an all-household average, so an owner’s bill is usually higher. Transaction costs, growth and return are example assumptions for you to change. General information, not advice.. See our [methodology](https://decisionscalc.com/methodology/) for how every figure is sourced and dated. ## Get an email when New Zealand rules change Tax bands, allowances and benefit rates change every year. We email you when a rule our New Zealand calculators use changes, usually a few times a year. Confirm by email; unsubscribe in one click. Was this page useful? **Report a wrong figure or missing information**