There is actually a really easy way to calculate this. The answer varies according to where you live and a number of other factors. But here is the amazing thing:

No one ever does.

This is the biggest investment of most people’s lives. And yet no one ever crunches the numbers and works out whether they are better off buying or renting.

I am as guilty as anyone else. Years ago I was renting a lovely house and the landlord told me that she was looking to sell. I immediately said I would be interested in buying it and asked what the asking price was. She told me what sounded like a pretty fair asking price.

So I went into the bank and got a mortgage appraisal done, which all came back fine. Except one thing: my monthly payments on the mortgage were going to be nearly double that I had been paying in rent. Furthermore, now I was going to be responsible for all the insurance, cost of repairs and maintenance, etc. on the home. I loved the house, but there was literally no way that I could justify it.