Rent vs Buy Calculator · India
Buying a home feels right.
Is it the right money decision?
Compare the full cost of owning — EMI, maintenance, taxes — against renting the same home and investing the difference. Over your whole loan tenure, with your numbers, in 60 seconds.
Your numbers
Pre-filled with typical metro values — adjust to your city and situation.
Compare renting and buying
After years
Buying builds in home equity · Renting & investing builds
Difference:
Wealth paths over time
Total interest paid
Total rent paid
Property value at end
Monthly cost at end (own vs rent)
Year-by-year comparison
| Year | Home equity | Investments | Own cost/yr | Rent/yr | Lead |
|---|
Why renting is sometimes the smarter money move
In most Indian metros, a home that costs ₹1 crore rents for ₹25,000–₹35,000 a month — a rental yield of just 3–4%. A home loan for the same property costs 8–9% a year. That gap is the heart of the rent vs buy decision: when yields are low and loan rates high, the renter who invests the down payment and the monthly savings often ends up wealthier than the buyer, even after property appreciation.
But the answer flips with your city, your rent, how long you stay, and what you actually do with the money you don't put into a house. That is why a generic rule of thumb fails — and why this calculator compares both complete cash flows over your full loan tenure.
What this calculator counts that others skip
- Opportunity cost of the down payment — invested, not ignored.
- Every monthly difference — when owning costs more than renting, the renter invests the gap; when rent overtakes EMI later, the flow reverses.
- True ownership costs — maintenance with inflation, property tax, insurance, one-time purchase costs.
- Rent inflation — compounding 5–10% yearly increases, not today's rent forever.
Frequently asked questions
- Is it better to rent or buy a house in India?
- It depends on the rent-to-price ratio in your area, how long you will stay, loan rates and what your down payment could earn if invested instead. In many Indian metros, rents run at 2–4% of property value per year while loans cost 8–9%, so renting and investing the difference can beat buying financially. This calculator compares both paths over your loan tenure with your actual numbers.
- How does this rent vs buy calculator work?
- It builds the full ownership cash flow — EMI, maintenance, property tax, insurance and property appreciation — and compares it with renting the same home while investing the down payment and every month of cost difference at your expected return. After the loan tenure it compares home equity against the investment portfolio.
- What is the opportunity cost of a down payment?
- Money locked in a down payment stops compounding elsewhere. ₹20 lakhs invested at 12% grows to about ₹77 lakhs in 12 years. A fair rent-vs-buy comparison must count this forgone growth as a cost of buying — most simple calculators skip it; this one does not.
- Does the calculator include hidden ownership costs?
- Yes — society maintenance with inflation, property tax, home insurance, and one-time purchase expenses like stamp duty and registration are all inputs. Only genuine costs of each path are compared.
- Is my financial data private?
- Completely. Every calculation runs in your browser — nothing you enter is transmitted or stored.
Prefer a spreadsheet? Get the freeExcel rent vs buy calculator. Working out your budget first? Try theAffordability Calculator.