Buy vs Rent Calculator

There is no universal answer, which is exactly why this calculator exists. The decision turns on four variables: how long you will stay, the price-to-rent ratio in your locality, your home loan rate versus what your savings could earn elsewhere, and the rate at which property in that corridor is appreciating. As a broad rule, if you will stay more than seven years in a locality where annual rent exceeds about 4% of the property value, buying tends to win. If you might move within five years, or the property costs more than 30 times its annual rent, renting and investing the difference usually leaves you wealthier.

In most NCR micro-markets the break-even falls somewhere between five and nine years. It arrives sooner in high-yield localities such as Raj Nagar Extension, Indirapuram or Noida Extension, and much later in low-yield premium pockets such as Golf Course Road or South Delhi. The calculator gives you the exact year for your own inputs rather than a rule of thumb. If it reports that buying never overtakes renting within your chosen period, extend the comparison period and watch where the two lines cross.

Not entirely, and the phrase misleads people into bad decisions. Rent buys you shelter, flexibility and freedom from maintenance, property tax and the risk of a stalled project. Equally, a large share of an early EMI is not building wealth either. In the first year of a twenty-year loan at 8.5%, roughly 80% of every EMI is interest paid to the bank — money that is just as gone as rent. What genuinely matters is the total wealth you hold at the end of the period, which is what this calculator measures.

Divide the property price by one year of rent for an equivalent home in the same building. A ratio below 20 generally favours buying, 20 to 28 is genuinely borderline and warrants a full calculation, and anything above 30 usually favours renting. In NCR the spread is wide. Ghaziabad and Noida Extension often sit near 22–26, while Gurugram's Golf Course Road and prime South Delhi can exceed 38.

Yes. Stamp duty and registration are applied at 7% of the property value as an upfront cost on the buying side, and a 1.5% brokerage is deducted when the home is notionally sold at the end of the period. Crucially, the renter is credited with investing that same amount from day one, which is the single biggest reason naive comparisons overstate the case for buying.

This is the most influential assumption in the entire model, so choose it honestly. A diversified equity mutual fund portfolio has historically returned 10–12% over long periods in India, debt funds and fixed deposits closer to 6–7%, and a balanced allocation somewhere between. Use the return you will realistically achieve given your own risk appetite and discipline — not the best year you ever had. If you know you would not actually invest the money, set this figure low, because that reflects your reality more accurately.

Not directly, and it is worth understanding why. Tax benefits depend on your income slab, whether you have opted for the old or new tax regime, whether the property is self-occupied or let out, and whether you also claim HRA. Under the old regime, Sections 24(b) and 80C can be worth ₹70,000 to ₹1,09,000 a year to a taxpayer in the 30% bracket, which meaningfully shortens the break-even. Under the new regime these deductions are largely unavailable on a self-occupied home. Our advisors can layer your specific tax position onto the output.

Established localities such as Sector 93, Indirapuram and Dwarka have compounded at roughly 6–9% a year over the last decade. High-growth corridors driven by infrastructure — the Yamuna Expressway sectors, Jewar, Noida Extension and New Noida — have run considerably hotter, in the 15–22% range. Treat the higher figures with care. Infrastructure-led appreciation is real but lumpy, arriving in bursts around project milestones rather than smoothly each year. Setting an optimistic rate here is the easiest way to make buying look better than it is.

It depends on your loan rate compared with your investment return. If your home loan costs 8.5% and you can confidently earn 11% elsewhere, a smaller down payment leaves more money compounding at the higher rate. That said, a larger down payment reduces your EMI, cuts total interest substantially, and lowers the risk of being unable to service the loan if your income falters. Most buyers should put down 20–25% and keep six months of expenses liquid rather than emptying every account to minimise the loan.

The mechanics work, but two adjustments are needed. Commercial rental yields in NCR run 6–8% against 2.5–4% for residential, so the case for buying is generally much stronger. However, commercial loans typically carry rates 1.5–2.5% higher than home loans, loan-to-value is capped lower at around 55–65%, and the tax treatment differs. Enter the commercial loan rate rather than a home loan rate, and speak to our advisory team before relying on the output for a commercial decision.

Under-construction property is typically 15–25% cheaper and attracts 5% GST, but you pay both rent and EMI simultaneously until possession, and you carry delivery risk. Ready-to-move attracts no GST, carries no delivery risk, and generates rent or savings immediately, but costs more upfront. If you are running this calculator while already paying rent on an under-construction purchase, add your rent to the buying side as an additional cost during the construction period — otherwise the comparison flatters the purchase considerably.