Renting or buying: the cheaper one depends on how long you stay. Rent vs buy in New Zealand: compare the true cost of renting and buying over the years you'd stay, with buying and selling costs, interest, upkeep and price growth. See when buying starts to win.
Costs on top of the price
NZ$3,250
Home to live in ·
What do you want to work out?
Whether renting or buying works out cheaper over the years you'd stay.
Over 7 years, buying works out cheaper by about
Rent paid
NZ$260,217True cost of buying
NZ$196,293Home worth in 7 years
NZ$1,045,393Interest paid
NZ$219,456Buying and selling costs
NZ$38,937Yours after selling
NZ$446,799True cost of buying = buying costs, interest, upkeep and selling costs, plus what your NZ$215,750 deposit and costs could have earned as savings, minus the rise in the home's value. Mortgage repayments that pay off the loan aren't a cost: they come back to you when you sell. Assumes prices rise 3.0% and rents 3.0% a year (over past 5-year periods, prices in New Zealand typically rose 6.8% a year; we cap our starting figure at 3% to stay cautious); change these under "Rates, price growth and upkeep".
An illustration, not financial advice. Prices can fall as well as rise, and rates, rents and taxes change.
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Questions
It depends mostly on how long you stay. With our starting figures for a NZ$850,000 home, buying works out cheaper over 7 years. Buying and selling costs are paid once, so the longer you stay, the more buying tends to win. Change the rent, years and growth above to test your own case.
Home to live in: buying costs come to about NZ$2,200. All buying costs together come to about NZ$3,250, or 0.4% of the price. Change the price or buyer type above to see your own figure.
There's no extra tax, because New Zealand has no stamp duty. But most overseas buyers aren't allowed to buy existing homes.
You can buy: New Zealand citizens and residents, and Australian and Singaporean citizens, are allowed. If you sell within 2 years, the 'bright-line' rule can tax the gain on a home you didn't live in.
A New Zealand lawyer or licensed conveyancer. An IRD number (NZ tax number) for the land transfer tax statement.
We last updated the figures on 16 Oct 2026 and checked them against official sources on 16 Oct 2026. We check every country every week, and show a warning if a check is overdue.
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