Rent vs Buy Calculator

Burnaby sits in a buyer-friendly window. Greater Vancouver apartment prices closed 2025 at a $710,000 benchmark, down 5.3% from a year earlier, and Burnaby condos are tracking near $662,000–$686,500. At the same time, rents have eased — a Burnaby one-bedroom averaged about $2,165/month in late 2025 as a wave of Brentwood and Metrotown completions pushed regional vacancy to a roughly 30-year high.

That combination — falling prices, softer rents, and 5-year fixed rates around 4% — means there is no universally "right" answer right now. The decision turns on your time horizon, your discipline as an investor, and how you weigh stability against flexibility.

The popular line that "rent is money down the drain" ignores that a large share of an early mortgage payment is interest (also not recoverable), plus property tax, strata, insurance, and maintenance. The fair comparison is total cost of owning versus total cost of renting — including the opportunity cost of your down payment.

• Owning costs: mortgage interest (the non-equity portion), property tax (~0.244% in Burnaby), strata fees, insurance, maintenance (~1%/yr of value), plus amortized upfront costs and ~5% selling costs at exit.
• Renting costs: rent + renter's insurance — but critically, the renter invests the down payment they did not spend, plus any monthly difference. At a 6–7% return, that capital compounds into the renter's "equity."
• Buyer's offsetting gains: principal paydown (forced savings) and home appreciation on the full property value (leverage).

Buying wins when appreciation + principal paydown outrun the renter's investment growth after covering the big one-time costs.

On a ~$679,000 Burnaby condo, a 20% down payment is ~$135,800. Buyers see that as equity. But a renter could invest it. At 6% nominal, $135,800 grows to about $243,000 over 10 years; at 7%, about $267,000 — all without lifting a finger on maintenance. Any rent-vs-buy comparison that omits this is structurally biased toward buying.

This is also why the spread between your mortgage rate (~4%) and your expected investment return (6–7%) matters so much: the wider it is, the better renting-and-investing looks.

Price-to-rent ratio

Home price ÷ annual rent. A 2-bed Burnaby condo at ~$679,000 vs. ~$2,700/mo ($32,400/yr) gives a ratio of ~21. Rules of thumb: under 15 = buying usually favoured; 16–20 = lean rent or analyze closely; 21+ = renting is often financially better (where the Burnaby condo market currently sits).

The "5% rule"

Popularized by Ben Felix, it estimates the annual unrecoverable cost of owning at ~5% of the home's value (≈ 1% property tax, 1% maintenance, ~3% cost of capital). If yearly rent for an equivalent place is less than 5% of the price, renting is likely cheaper. 5% of $679,000 ≈ $33,950/yr (~$2,830/mo) — close to current Burnaby 2-bed rents, meaning the monthly math is roughly a coin-flip and the long-term outcome hinges on appreciation.

Assumptions: $679,000 price; 20% down ($135,800); $543,200 mortgage at 4.1% over 25 years (~$2,890/mo); strata $450/mo; property tax ~$1,660/yr; insurance $45/mo; maintenance 1%/yr; appreciation 4%/yr; selling cost 5%. The renter pays $2,700/mo rising 3%/yr and invests the down payment + monthly savings at 6.5%.

The gap is small and flips to favour renting if appreciation runs below ~3% or investment returns exceed ~7%, and favours buying clearly if appreciation returns to its long-run 5.5%. The break-even is highly sensitive to two unknowable inputs — which is exactly why this should be modeled, not assumed.

Because PTT, legal fees, and the ~5% selling cost are front- and back-loaded, buying almost never wins on a short stay. In a market like Burnaby's — modest appreciation, ~4% rates, sizable transaction costs — the typical break-even is 5 to 10 years. Plan to stay under ~5 years and renting is usually the safer financial call; expect 7–10+ years and buying's forced savings and leverage tend to pull ahead. The flatter the price-growth outlook, the longer the break-even.

• Flexibility (renter): easier to relocate, upsize/downsize, or test a neighbourhood; no exposure to a forced sale in a down market.
• Stability & control (owner): no renovictions or above-guideline increases, freedom to renovate, security of tenure — real value for families putting down roots.
• Maintenance responsibility: renters call the landlord; owners pay (budget ~1%/yr). Strata handles the building envelope, but special assessments can land unexpectedly.
• Forced savings discipline: a mortgage compels equity-building. Renting only "wins" financially if you actually invest the difference — most people don't, which is a genuine behavioural argument for buying.

• Ignoring the down payment's opportunity cost — treating equity as "free" while a renter could earn 6–7% on the same capital.
• Forgetting transaction costs — PTT, legal, inspection in; ~5% commission + legal out. These can erase years of appreciation.
• Omitting maintenance — budget ~1% of value annually; strata fees don't cover in-suite repairs or special assessments.
• Assuming rent rises forever and prices only go up — Burnaby rents fell ~5% in 2025 and prices dropped ~5%; markets move both ways.
• Comparing rent to the mortgage payment alone — you must add tax, strata, insurance, and maintenance to make it apples-to-apples.
• Using an unrealistic appreciation rate — long-run Metro Vancouver is ~5.5%, but recent years were negative; don't extrapolate a boom.