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How the rent or buy calculator works
The calculator compares two ways of housing yourself, month by month: buying a home with a mortgage, or renting and investing the money you would have put into a down payment and closing costs.
On the buying side it counts the mortgage (with mortgage insurance when it applies), land transfer tax, property tax, maintenance, insurance, selling costs and growth in the home's value. On the renting side it counts rent, its yearly increase and the return on your investments.
The result shows what you would be left with in each case after the time you choose, and when buying starts to come out ahead. These are estimates based on your assumptions, not financial advice.