Rent vs. Buy Calculator
Should you rent or buy in Muscat? This isn't a single number — it's a breakeven year, built from real mortgage math, service charges, rent growth, and what your down payment could earn if you invested it instead.
The property & the rental you're comparing it to
What your down payment + fees could earn if invested rather than put into a home.
What this actually means for you
Buying breaks even in year 3
Before year 3, renting and investing the difference leaves you ahead. After it, owning does — and by year 10, buying comes out OMR 48,339 cheaper in net terms than renting.
- Upfront cash needed to buy
- OMR 30,150
- Monthly mortgage payment
- OMR 660
- Net cost of buying (year 10)
- OMR 10,357
- Net cost of renting (year 10)
- OMR 58,696
"Net cost" already accounts for the asset you'd hold — home equity (minus a resale cost) if buying, or investment growth on the cash you didn't spend if renting. Lower is better. Estimates only, not financial advice.
Net cost over time
Where the two lines cross is your breakeven point — before it, renting wins; after it, buying does.
How this calculator works
Buying's net costadds your upfront cash (down payment, the 3% registration fee, and — for secondary purchases — a 2% agency fee), every mortgage payment made through your chosen horizon, and every year's service charges. From that total, it subtracts the equity you'd hold if you sold at that point: the home's appreciated value, minus what's still owed on the mortgage, minus an assumed 2% resale cost.
Renting's net costadds up rent paid through the same horizon, growing each year at your assumed rate. From that, it subtracts the investment growth you'd earn by putting the down payment and purchase fees into something else instead, at your assumed return rate.
Where the two lines cross on the chart is the breakeven year. This deliberately doesn't model the month-to-month difference between a mortgage payment and rent as a separate investment stream — only the upfront cash gets that treatment — to keep the assumptions few enough to actually reason about. Treat the output as a real, useful estimate for comparing scenarios, not a certified financial projection.
Frequently asked questions
How is 'net cost' different from just comparing total rent paid to the purchase price?
A naive comparison ignores the asset you end up owning. This calculator nets buying's total cash outflow against the home equity you'd hold if you sold at your chosen horizon (minus a resale cost), and nets renting's total cost against the investment growth on the cash you didn't spend on a down payment and purchase fees. That's a fairer, if still simplified, comparison.
What does the breakeven year actually mean?
It's the year the net cost of buying first drops below the net cost of renting, at the assumptions you entered. Before that year, renting and investing the difference leaves you ahead; after it, owning does. Change any assumption — rent growth, appreciation, investment return — and the breakeven year shifts.
Why does the investment return assumption matter so much?
It's the opportunity cost of your down payment. If you assume that money would otherwise sit in a low-yield account, buying looks better sooner. If you assume it could earn a strong return invested elsewhere, renting looks better for longer. There's no single right number here — it depends on what you'd realistically do with that cash instead.
Does this account for Islamic/Sharia-compliant financing?
Not specifically. The mortgage math here uses a standard amortizing-loan formula (principal plus interest). Sharia-compliant structures like Ijara or Murabaha are priced differently in practice, so treat the monthly payment figure as an approximation if that's your financing route, not an exact quote.