Buy or Rent a Home? Calculator

Should you buy a flat with a mortgage or keep renting? This calculator compares the two fairly — you spend the same every month either way. Buying, you pay the down payment and purchase costs up front, then the installment and upkeep. Renting, you pay the rent and invest the money that would have gone on the down payment and purchase costs. Whenever one option is cheaper in a given month, you invest the difference. At the end we compare your wealth — the home after selling costs and tax, investments after Polish capital gains tax — and show after how many years buying takes the lead and the rent below which renting pays off.

Updated: October 20, 2026

Home and mortgage

Home price (PLN)

Average about PLN 13,500 per m² on the secondary market in 17 large Polish cities: regional capitals and Gdynia (NBP, Q1 2026)

Down payment (%)

= PLN 140,000 · loan PLN 560,000

Mortgage rate (%)

Assumed fixed for the whole term. 5-year fixed-rate offers: about 6.3–6.8% (2026)

Mortgage term (years)

Equal installments

Renting

Rent now (PLN)

Monthly, for a similar flat, without the building's admin fees and utilities — you pay those either way, so they are left out.

Rent growth (% a year)

The rent goes up once a year. Defaults to inflation.

The future

Home price growth (% a year)

Defaults to inflation, so prices stay flat in real terms. It has a big effect on the result.

Investment return (% a year)

Before tax — the 19% Polish capital gains tax on the profit is deducted at the end. Historical avg. for a global equity portfolio: ~7%.

How long you stay (years)

We compare wealth after this many years, as if the home were sold then.

Costs and inflation

Purchase costs (% of price)

2% transfer tax (PCC) on the secondary market (none on a first home), notary and court fees about 0.5%, an agent 2–3%, bank fees and low-down-payment insurance.

Upkeep (% of value a year)

Repairs, furnishing, insurance and property tax — costs a tenant doesn't pay.

Selling costs (% of sale price)

An agent, and the fee for repaying the mortgage early: on a fixed rate the bank may claim compensation, on a variable rate at most 3% of the amount repaid in the first 3 years.

Inflation rate (%)

Only used to show the result in today's money

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Break-even rent

—

You buy

Wealth at the end

—

Home value: —
Selling costs: —
Mortgage left to repay: —
Tax on the sale: —
Investments after tax: —

Purchase costs: —
Interest paid: —
Upkeep paid: —
Cost in month 1: —

You rent

Wealth at the end

—

Investments before tax: —
Capital gains tax: —

Paid into investments: —
Rent paid: —
Rent in month 1: —
Rent in the last month: —

Over time

How much more wealth buying gives than renting, year by year: above zero buying is ahead, below zero renting is.

Example: a PLN 700,000 flat or PLN 3,500 a month in rent?

The flat costs PLN 700,000. Buying, you pay a 20% down payment (PLN 140,000) and PLN 21,000 in purchase costs, and borrow the rest over 30 years at 6.5%. The installment is PLN 3,540, and with upkeep you pay PLN 4,123 in the first month. A similar flat rents for PLN 3,500 a month — if you rent, you invest PLN 161,000 right away, and in months when renting is cheaper you invest the difference too. Home prices grow by 3.5% a year, rents by 3.5%, and investments return 7% a year before capital gains tax. This is your wealth in both cases over the years, after selling the home, costs and taxes:

PLN 700,000 flat, 20% down, 6.5% mortgage over 30 years, PLN 3,500 rent: wealth over the years
Years	Buy	Rent	Ahead
5	PLN 272,718	PLN 245,565	Buying by PLN 27,153
10	PLN 504,614	PLN 334,681	Buying by PLN 169,933
20	PLN 1,268,799	PLN 636,660	Buying by PLN 632,138
30	PLN 2,837,965	PLN 1,243,536	Buying by PLN 1,594,429

After 30 years, buying leaves you PLN 1,594,429 better off than renting (PLN 568,061 in today's money): PLN 2,837,965 against PLN 1,243,536. Buying takes the lead in year 3 and keeps it. Renting would only pay off with a rent below PLN 2,469 a month.

These numbers come from the same calculator you see above, using its default inputs. Enter your own to see your result.

How we calculate

In both cases you spend the same every month. Up front, the buyer pays the down payment and purchase costs, and the renter invests the same amount. After that the buyer pays the installment and upkeep every month, and the renter pays rent. Whoever pays less in a given month invests the difference. The installment is fixed while the rent goes up once a year, so in time the buyer may be the one paying less — and then the buyer invests. Once the mortgage is repaid, the buyer only pays for upkeep.

The mortgage is calculated as in the mortgage overpayment calculator: equal installments, interest charged monthly on the remaining principal. The home gains value every month in line with the price growth you enter, and upkeep is the percentage of its value you enter, per year, paid monthly. Investments grow each month by the annual return ÷ 12 and then receive the contribution — as in the compound interest calculator.

At the end of every year we work out wealth as if everything were sold then. The buyer's wealth is the home's value minus selling costs, the rest of the mortgage and the tax on the sale, plus the buyer's investments after the 19% capital gains tax on the profit. The renter's wealth is the renter's investments after the same tax. The tax on the sale is 19% of the gain: the sale price minus selling costs, the purchase price and purchase costs. A sale more than five years after the end of the purchase year is no longer taxed, so after 5 full years we still charge it, and after 6 we don't. The break-even rent is the starting rent at which both options end with the same wealth. The result in today's money is the difference divided by (1 + inflation)^years.

Assumptions: a fixed mortgage rate, steady growth in home prices and rents, and a steady investment return (in reality all of these change, and home prices can fall), equal installments, the rent raised once a year. We leave out the building's admin fees and utilities (you pay them either way), the deposit (the tenant gets it back), a letting agent's fee, moving costs, the housing relief and government schemes. The capital gains tax is always 19% — investing part of the money through an IKE or IKZE retirement account would lower it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better: buying a home or renting?

It depends on your situation — most of all on how long you stay, what a similar flat rents for and how fast rents rise, how fast home prices grow and your mortgage rate. Upkeep costs and investment returns matter a lot too. In the example above — a PLN 700,000 flat, PLN 3,500 rent and a 6.5% mortgage — buying takes the lead in year 3 and after 30 years leaves you PLN 1,594,429 better off. Renting would win if you moved out before the end of year 3, or with a starting rent below PLN 2,469. Enter your own numbers and try a few scenarios.

After how many years does buying a home pay off?

At the start buying is behind: you pay purchase costs, and selling a home costs money too — PLN 35,000 in total in the example above. A sale before the end of the fifth calendar year after the purchase year is also taxed on the gain. Buying makes up for this as the home gains value and the mortgage is repaid. In the example it takes the lead in year 3, but the lead is small at first: PLN 858 after 3 years. That year shifts easily. With everything else unchanged, buying is ahead from year 6 at an 8% mortgage rate or with a PLN 3,000 rent, and only from year 13 if home prices grow by 1% a year. The calculator shows the year for your own numbers.

Is paying rent “throwing money away”?

You don't get rent back, but owners also have costs they never get back: mortgage interest, upkeep and repairs, and the costs of buying and selling. In the example above, over 30 years the renter pays PLN 2,168,152 in rent, while the buyer pays PLN 714,250 in interest and PLN 367,120 in upkeep. On the other hand, the renter doesn't tie up PLN 161,000 in a down payment and purchase costs but invests it, and in months when renting is cheaper invests the difference too. That is why the calculator compares wealth at the end, not just spending. With these inputs renting would win if the starting rent were below PLN 2,469.

What if I sell within five years?

In Poland you pay 19% income tax on the gain if you sell a home before the end of the fifth calendar year after the year you bought it — a flat bought in 2026 can be sold tax-free from 2032. The gain is the sale price minus selling costs, the purchase price and purchase costs, and you report it on a PIT-39 return. You pay no tax if, within three years of the end of the year of the sale, you spend the money on your own housing, such as another home — the housing relief (ulga mieszkaniowa; spend only part and that part of the gain is exempt). The calculator doesn't assume the relief and always charges the tax on a sale in the first five years. In the example above the tax after 3 years would be PLN 7,520 — more than buying's whole lead at that point (PLN 858). Selling also means repaying the mortgage early, and the bank may charge a fee for it — include it in the selling costs.

What does buying a home cost on top of the price?

On the secondary market you pay a 2% tax on civil law transactions (PCC) — PLN 14,000 on a PLN 700,000 flat. Since 31 August 2023 there is none on a first home, if you have never owned a flat or house, even partly (an inherited share of up to 50% doesn't count). A new flat from a developer has VAT in the price, so there is no PCC either. Then there are the notary and court fees. On the sale of a flat the notary may charge at most half the rate in the fee table, so on a PLN 700,000 flat the maximum fee is about PLN 1,800 plus 23% VAT. Court fees are PLN 200 for each land register entry: ownership and the mortgage. With copies of the deed and the land register application, that comes to just under 0.5% of the price. An agent usually charges 2–3% of the price, and the bank may add a commission, a valuation and low-down-payment insurance. The default 3% roughly covers PCC, the notary, court fees and a bank commission. For a first home bought without an agent enter about 1%; with an agent and PCC, 5% or more. Change the example's purchase costs to 1% and buying takes the lead in year 2; at 5%, only in year 5.

What about risk and flexibility?

The calculator assumes a fixed mortgage rate and steady growth in prices, rents and investments every year. In reality home prices can stall or fall for years, a mortgage rate can rise when its fixed period ends, and investments can lose money. Try a few scenarios. If home prices don't rise at all (0% a year, so they fall by inflation in real terms) and everything else is as in the example, renting wins by about PLN 95,000 if you move out after 10 years. If you stay 30 years, buying wins even then — by about PLN 655,000 — because the installment stays the same while the rent rises every year. Owning gives you stability, as no landlord can give you notice, but it ties you down: selling takes time and money, and a mortgage is a big debt. Renting makes it easy to move, for a job for example, but the rent and how long you can stay are largely up to the landlord. The calculator can't put a price on that — the result is a scenario, not advice.