RENT VS BUY · CANADA
Rent vs Buy Calculator — 10-Year Wealth Comparison (Canada)
If you keep renting for 10 years vs buy this home today, where are you financially at the end? Plug in your numbers, see the actual math — including mortgage paydown, appreciation, closing costs, selling fees, and the opportunity cost of your down payment if you'd invested it instead.
Renting
Keep rentingBuying
Buy this home$50,000 down · insurance premium 3.10% = $13,950 added to mortgage
Time horizon
10 yearsSlide to compare any horizon from 1 to 30 years.
Rent · 10-yr net worth
$255,886
Down + closing costs invested, plus monthly savings invested at 5%.
Buy · 10-yr net worth
$301,874
Home value at 3%/yr growth − mortgage balance − 5% selling fees + any monthly savings invested.
Verdict at year 10
Buying comes out ahead by $45,988
Buying is roughly 18.0% better than the alternative on these assumptions. Buy-side net worth catches up around year 6.
Monthly cash flow today
Rent
$2,200
All-in buy
$3,399
Mortgage $2,565 (incl. insurance premium) + tax + maint + condo
Cumulative rent paid over 10 years: $302,646
All-in buy cost at another frequency
Rent at another frequency
Net worth over time
Assumptions used
- • Canadian semi-annual mortgage compounding (standard).
- • Down payment + closing costs invested up front in the rent scenario at your return rate.
- • If buying costs more per month than renting, the difference is invested monthly in the rent scenario.
- • Home value grows at a flat annual rate.
- • Canada's minimum down payment is enforced; under 20% down, the mortgage insurance premium is added to the mortgage (plus the 0.20% surcharge on 30-year insured amortizations).
- • If owning ever costs less per month than renting, the buyer invests the difference at the same return — so both sides are treated the same way.
- • Property tax and maintenance rise with the home's value; mortgage payments stop once it's paid off.
- • Rate is held constant for the whole period (real renewals will differ). Home and tenant insurance are left out of both sides.
- • Realtor commission applied to home value at year N in the buy scenario.
- • Cumulative rent paid is shown for context but not subtracted from rent-side wealth — you got housing for it.
Honest caveat
This is a financial baseline, not the full story. It ignores moving costs, lifestyle (yard, pets, stability, kids in a school zone), real market volatility (your portfolio won't return exactly your assumption every year), tenant headaches, repairs above the maintenance allowance, refinance costs at renewal, and the tax difference between a tax-free primary residence and a taxable portfolio. Use the math to anchor the decision, then weigh the rest.
Rahul Bedi — Mortgage Broker
Rent vs Buy — Canada
October 13, 2026
Your inputs
- Monthly rent: $2,200/mo + 3%/yr
- Investment return: 5%/yr
- Purchase price: $500,000
- Down payment: $50,000 (10.0%)
- Insurance premium: $13,950
- Rate / amort: 4.49% / 25 yrs
- Appreciation: 3%/yr
- Property tax / maint.: 1% / 1%
- Horizon: 10 years
FAQ
Rent vs buy — common questions
Want Rahul to pressure-test this with real lender rates and your actual file?