Rent or buy in Cayman

Full calculator

Renting costs you the rent. Buying costs you the mortgage, strata, insurance, upkeep and the duty and fees on the way in — but you keep the equity, and the deposit you did not invest elsewhere is money the renter still has. This works both sides through to the year buying pulls ahead.

Buying
CI$
Property type
Down payment
CI$
%
%
yrs
CI$/mo
%/yr
% of price a year

Roof, appliances, hurricane shutters, the things a landlord would have paid for. Around 0.5% a year for a condo where strata covers the outside, 1% for a house.

Renting
CI$/mo

% a year
What happens to the money
% a year
% a year

What the renter's deposit earns instead of sitting in a house. This is the assumption that moves the answer most, so try it both low and high.

% of the price

Agent's commission and legal fees when you come to sell.

Buying pulls ahead

Monthly to buy
Monthly to rent
Cash to buy
Where you stand at 10 years

What each path is worth over time

Buying Renting and investing the difference

Buying counts the property's value less what you still owe and what it costs to sell, plus anything you invested when the rent was higher than the mortgage. Renting counts the deposit and fees you did not spend, invested, plus whatever you saved each month buying would have cost you.

How it works out

Year by year

The first ten years