Rent or Buy?: free money game, renting vs buying over 10 years

What is Rent or Buy?

Flat A is for rent, flat B is for sale. For ten years, decide what to do with your money: invest or save what's left after housing, buy, overpay the loan, renovate or sell. A chart tracks your net worth against renting and buying, and the best path in hindsight sets the score.

Rent or Buy? is a free personal finance game about the biggest money decision most people make. You get two similar flats, one for rent and one for sale, plus savings, a monthly budget and an example mortgage rate. Over ten years you decide what to do: invest or save what's left after housing, buy, overpay the loan, renovate or sell.

Every year brings news, like a broken boiler, a rent jump or a new metro line, and an example market return. A chart compares your net worth with two simple paths, renting and investing or buying and investing. At the end, you see the best path in hindsight and how close you got.

At a glance

Category

Adventure

Difficulty

Medium

Play time

5–7 min

Price

Free, in your browser, sign-up optional

How to play

Read the scenario

A price, a rent, your savings and an example mortgage rate. Four towns, each with its own numbers.

Choose each year

Invest the difference, keep it in the bank, buy, overpay the loan, renovate or sell. News like a broken boiler or a rent jump hits renters and owners differently.

Watch your net worth

Savings + investments + what the flat would sell for, minus the loan and fees. The chart compares you with renting and buying.

Score

Your net worth after 10 years against the best path in hindsight: 1,000 points for matching it.

Scoring

Your score compares your net worth after 10 years with the best path in hindsight: 1,000 points for matching it, fewer the further below you end.

Net worth is your savings and investments, plus what the flat would sell for minus the loan and 5% selling fees. Prices, rates and returns are examples.

What it trains

Total cost thinking

Counting fees, interest, upkeep and repairs, not just the monthly payment.

Opportunity cost

Seeing that money not spent on housing only helps if it's put to work.

Long-term planning

Weighing choices whose effects only show after years.

Strategy and tips

Count all the costs

Owning means fees, interest, upkeep and repairs, not just the monthly payment.

Invest the difference

Renting only wins if the money you save on housing is put to work.

Fees need time

Buying and selling fees take years of price growth to earn back. Moving in and out is expensive.

Compare rates

Overpaying the loan earns exactly its rate, risk-free. The higher the rate, the better the deal.

Renovate with care

Work rarely adds as much value as it costs; lower bills have to make up the rest.

Why play Rent or Buy?

Rent or buy is often argued as a matter of principle. Running the numbers year by year shows it depends on prices, rents, rates, time and what you do with the money in between.

Frequently asked questions