Rent vs. buy · Edmonton
Rent, or buy?
Mortgage payments start at 4.84% — Ratehub’s lowest advertised 5-year fixed, verified Oct 16, 2026. Your bank may offer less: type your own rate.
Over your timeline
How each adds up
Your down payment, amortization and rate are shared with the mortgage calculator, our builder partners’ pages and every MLS® listing page on this device.
The monthly fee for a condo or a homeowners’ association — $0 for a house with none. Counted in the owner’s costs every month, at today’s figure.
How long you’d stay
Selling costs come off at the endDown payment & mortgage
Interest rate Your rate
Starting point: 4.84% — the lowest advertised 5-yr fixed among major Canadian lenders, via Ratehub, verified October 16, 2026. Banks often quote less — type the rate you were offered, and every payment on our pages uses it (kept on this device only).
The assumptions
Growth, costs, returns
Property tax starts at Edmonton’s 2026 residential rate, 1.036% of assessed value (City of Edmonton). Buying costs start at 1.5% of the price, the low end of the 1.5% to 4% the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada tells buyers to be ready for (Alberta has no land transfer tax). Upkeep is the repairs, maintenance and replacements an owner pays for — a share of the home’s value each year. It does not include the condo or HOA fee (its own box above), property tax (its own box) or home insurance and utilities, which are not modelled: a renter pays for those too. Growth, returns and upkeep are assumptions, not forecasts — change them to test your own view.
Year by year
What you’d have with each choice if you moved out at the end of that year, every year up to 30: buying — the home after selling costs and the mortgage still owed, plus anything the owner invested; renting — everything the renter invested.
- Buying
- Renting
New builds near this price
New builds from our builder partners near this price, with your down payment, amortization and rate.
Reading our builder partners’ list…
Data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton.
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Questions people ask
Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Edmonton?
It depends on how long you stay, the price and the rent, and what you expect prices, rents and investments to do. Buying has costs at both ends (buying and selling costs), so it usually needs a few years to pull ahead. The calculator works out every year up to 30 and tells you the first year buying comes out ahead with your numbers — or that it doesn’t within 30 years.
How does the calculator compare renting and buying?
Month by month, then it compares what you would have at the end. Buying: you pay the down payment and buying costs, then each month the mortgage payment, property tax, upkeep and any condo or HOA fee. Renting: you pay the rent, and the down payment and buying costs are invested instead. Each month, whichever choice costs less invests the difference at the investment return you set — usually the renter in the early years, and the owner once the rent has grown past the owner’s costs or the mortgage is paid off. When you move out, buying leaves you the home’s value less selling costs and the mortgage still owed, plus the owner’s investments; renting leaves you the renter’s investments. The gap between the two is the answer.
Does it include CMHC insurance?
Yes. With less than 20% down, the CMHC premium is added to the mortgage, using the same rules as our mortgage calculator, our builder partners’ pages and the MLS® listing pages.
What property tax does it assume?
Edmonton’s 2026 residential rate, 1.036% of a home’s assessed value (City of Edmonton), applied to the home’s value each year. Other towns differ — change it under The assumptions.
What does it leave out?
Tax: investment growth is counted before any tax, as it would grow in a Tax-Free Savings Account, and a home you live in is generally free of capital gains tax when you sell it. It also leaves out home and tenant insurance, utilities and moving costs, and it keeps the rate you set for the whole amortization — in real life the rate changes when the mortgage renews.
Your guide
Fadi Georgi, REALTOR®
Renting or buying is a life decision as much as a money one. We’ll run your real numbers with you — and show you what your budget buys today.
About these numbers. A simplified month-by-month model with Canadian semi-annual compounding and CMHC insurance added under 20% down. The renter invests the down payment and buying costs; each month, whichever choice costs less invests the difference at the return you set; at the end it compares what each would have — for the owner, the home’s value less selling costs and the mortgage still owed, plus the owner’s investments. Investment growth is before tax, and the rate you set is kept for the whole amortization. The starting rate is the lowest advertised 5-yr fixed among major Canadian lenders, via Ratehub (verified October 16, 2026), unless you set your own. Real outcomes depend on rates, markets and how long you stay. Not financial advice. Not a mortgage approval or a rate offer — confirm with a licensed mortgage professional. 7th Avenue Realty (MaxWell Polaris), Edmonton.