Renting. Total rent paid over the horizon, with rent rising each year at the rent-increase rate you entered. No equity is built, and nothing is recovered at the end.
Buying. Cash out is the down payment plus the monthly mortgage payment (worked out on the price minus the down payment, at the rate and amortization you entered, with interest compounded semi-annually as Canadian mortgages are) plus annual property tax, home insurance, and maintenance at the rate you entered on the home's growing value, plus the one-time buying costs you entered. Cash back at the end is the sale price — the home's value grown at the rate you entered — minus the mortgage balance still owed and the selling costs you entered as a percentage of the sale price. Net cost of buying is cash out minus cash back.
Break-even year. The first year, from 1 to 30, in which the cumulative net cost of buying is lower than the cumulative cost of renting. If buying never comes out ahead within 30 years, the calculator says so plainly. The table in the results shows the cumulative cost of each side at years 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 (up to your horizon).
What this calculator leaves out. Mortgage default insurance on a down payment under 20% (CMHC, Sagen, or Canada Guaranty premiums run 2.80% to 4.00% of the loan); the investment return on the down payment if you rented and invested it instead; land transfer tax above the one-time buying costs you entered; moving costs; tenant insurance; and provincial rent control rules. First-time buyers in Ontario can also claim a refund of up to $4,000 of provincial land transfer tax — no provincial tax on the first $368,000 of the price — so subtract it from the one-time buying costs you enter if you qualify. Toronto charges a second municipal land transfer tax with its own first-time buyer rebate; check the City of Toronto page before you enter that figure. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and CMHC both publish home-buying guidance on the cost inputs used here — the arithmetic is the standard rent-vs-buy comparison, and every rate in it is an input you entered.
Sources: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation home-buying guidance (the cost inputs a buyer faces: mortgage payment, property tax, home insurance, maintenance, and selling costs); the mortgage payment formula is the standard Canadian amortization formula with semi-annual compounding. No future price, rent, or return figure on this page comes from any published source — each is an assumption you entered, printed above. Government of Ontario, Land Transfer Tax Refunds for First-Time Homebuyers (the up-to-$4,000 refund; no provincial tax on the first $368,000). Checked November 10, 2026.