Rentvesting Calculator Australia
Compare rentvesting vs buying a home to live in first (PPOR). Enter your prices, deposit, rates and rent to see projected equity, year-1 cash-flow difference and an “Advantage” estimate using simplified Australian assumptions. General information only.
Quick definition (for this calculator)
In Australia, rentvesting is renting the home you want to live in while owning an investment property elsewhere (often a cheaper suburb or city) that better fits your budget.
New to rentvesting? Start with the Rentvesting Guide. First home buyer? See First Home Buyer Rentvesting for schemes/eligibility and borrowing power checks.
Rate Challenge — Rentvesting Calculator Australia (vs Buy-to-Live)
Your results
Net position (Rentvesting)
Net position (Buy-to-Live)
Advantage
Equity at horizon — Rentvesting
Equity at horizon — Buy-to-Live
Year-1 monthly cashflow diff
Next steps (recommended)
Want to turn this into a lender-ready plan? These links keep the strategy clean and avoid guesswork.
- Read the Rentvesting Guide (strategy, risks, buffers and steps)
- First home buyer? (schemes/eligibility + borrowing power trade-offs)
- See a real example (Rentvesting Ballarat case study)
- Speak with a broker (sanity-check your numbers, lender options)
Want a broker to check this scenario?
Send your results and inputs — we’ll sanity-check borrowing power and lender policy assumptions (rental shading, buffers, IO, etc).
Input guides
Capital growth — what it is and how to choose a number
Capital growth is the average annual change in the property’s value. It’s highly cyclical and differs by suburb and dwelling type. Over long stretches, many Australian capitals have shown mid-single-digit nominal growth on average, but individual periods can be far higher or lower. For planning, we suggest testing a conservative range (e.g., 3–5%) and a stretch case (e.g., 6–7%) to see sensitivity. Lower growth will favour cash-flow discipline; higher growth magnifies equity differences between strategies.
Marginal tax rate — why it matters
Your marginal rate is used to estimate the tax on rental profit or the refund from a rental loss (negative gearing). The model simply applies your chosen percentage to the rental profit/loss after expenses and interest. It doesn’t include depreciation schedules or other add-backs; for personalised numbers we’ll run a proper cash-flow with your accountant’s inputs.
Buying costs — what’s included
This percentage is a shortcut for stamp duty, legal fees, settlement adjustments and inspections. It varies by state, property type and concessions. For quick comparisons, many users enter 4–6%. For precise duty, we can plug in state-by-state schedules during your credit quote.
PPOR inputs — what they do
Price & deposit set your starting loan. Rate drives interest and repayments. Term spreads the loan: longer terms lower repayments but reduce principal faster only when you make extra repayments. Owner costs are non-loan costs like rates and insurance. Extra repayments directly reduce principal and can tilt results towards buying to live.
Investment inputs — what they do
Price & deposit determine your investor loan size. Investor rate is usually higher than owner-occupied. Term sets the amortisation once you switch to principal & interest. Interest-only years can ease early cash flow but keep the balance higher for longer, which may affect equity if growth is modest.
Rent & expenses — assumptions
Market rent is your expected weekly rent for the investment today. We apply a simple vacancy allowance and deduct a percentage for management and variable costs plus a fixed annual amount for rates/insurance. Your personal rent is what you pay to live where you choose while rentvesting; it’s added to the rentvesting path only.
Interest-only — pros and cons
IO reduces required repayments early and, when negatively geared, can increase the tax offset. But principal doesn’t fall during IO, so you rely more on capital growth for equity. After IO ends, repayments step up. Test different IO durations to see the trade-off.
How we compare the strategies
Each path’s net position equals equity at your horizon minus non-recoverable costs paid along the way. For PPOR, that’s loan interest, owner costs and buying costs. For rentvesting, that’s your personal rent, buying costs and after-tax rental cash flow (profit or loss). Principal repayments are treated as building equity, not a cost. The “Advantage” tile is the difference between the two net positions.
How to use this calculator
This tool compares two paths: (A) buying a home to live in (PPOR) and (B) rentvesting (you keep renting and buy an investment property). It projects equity at your chosen horizon and subtracts the non-recoverable costs to show which path leaves you ahead.
- Enter General assumptions (horizon, capital growth, marginal tax, buying costs). Use the i buttons for guidance.
- Fill out the PPOR section (home price, deposit, rate, term, annual owner costs).
- Fill out the Investment section (purchase, loan settings, rent & expense assumptions). Choose IO years if relevant.
- Press Show my results. Review tiles and try different growth/rate/IO settings to test sensitivity.
- For a personalised quote (with state duty, LMI, land-tax and depreciation), click Contact us and we’ll tailor it to lender policies.
Indicative only; not financial or tax advice. Final pricing and credit approval depend on lender assessment and full application.