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Rent or buy — and what will this home cost in total?

Type the price, your down payment, the rate and the years. You'll see what the home costs over the whole loan, how buying compares with renting year by year, and what a higher rate would do to your payment.

Worked out on this page. Nothing you type is sent or saved.

Sets the usual purchase costs, last month's average home-loan rates and the lending rules of that country.

Choosing one sets the rate below to last month's average for it.

Ireland, August 2026: banks charged 3.4% on average for this. Type the rate you were offered.

What you pay now, or what renting this kind of home would cost.

Assumed until you change them: purchase costs of 2% of the price, owning costs of 1.5% of the home's value a year, rent and home prices rising 2% a year, savings earning 2% a year and selling costs of 3%.

  1. 1 · Quick answer
  2. 2 · More accurate
  3. 3 · Exact, in Fyncora →
Over the whole loan this home costs you€422,599€300,000 price · €116,599 interest · €6,000 purchase costs
Loan payment€1,189a month for 25 years
Cash on the day you buy€66,000down payment and purchase costs
You borrow€240,00080% of the price

Lending rules in Ireland

  • Gross income of about €60,000 a year: a first-time buyer may borrow up to 4 times income, later buyers 3.5 times.
  • Own money of at least €30,000 towards the price (10%), before purchase costs.

These are legal limits on banks. Other loans you repay count toward them, and each bank adds its own checks.

Rent or buy: what you'd hold, year by yearBoth start with the same €66,000. Each month, whoever pays less saves the difference. Buying counts the home after selling costs, minus the loan, plus savings. Renting counts the savings.

Buying is ahead from year 3. After 10 years you'd hold €53,668 more than by renting.

In 10 yearsBuying€187,306Renting€133,638
  • Buying
  • Renting
Hover or tap the chart to read a point
Show the numbers
YearBuyingRenting
Today€51,000€66,000
1€63,020€72,976
2€75,370€79,917
3€88,061€86,818
4€101,102€93,676
5€114,504€100,485
6€128,277€107,242
7€142,432€113,940
8€156,980€120,576
9€171,934€127,144
10€187,306€133,638
11€203,107€140,053
12€219,350€146,384
13€236,050€152,623
14€253,218€158,766
15€270,871€164,806
16€289,021€170,736
17€307,684€176,550
18€326,876€182,239
19€346,612€187,798
20€366,909€193,219
21€387,783€198,493
22€409,253€203,613
23€431,336€208,570
24€454,051€213,357
25€477,416€217,964

It turns on home prices, which nobody knows

  • Home prices 0% a yearBuying ahead from year 12€5,019 more by renting after 10 years
  • Home prices +2% a yearBuying ahead from year 3€53,668 more by buying after 10 yearsYours
  • Home prices +4% a yearBuying ahead from year 2€124,062 more by buying after 10 years
Owning, first month€1,564loan payment and owning costs
Renting, first month€1,100rent only
Paid out by buying, in 10 years€258,363day-one cash, payments and owning costs
Paid out by renting, in 10 years€144,536rent only

Amounts are in the money of each year, not in today's prices. A home is also where you live: these numbers cover the money, not the rest.

When it is paid off

Paid off in 25 years. You'd be 60.

The home is then yours outright: you can stay for the owning costs alone, rent it out or sell it. Owning then costs about €615 a month. Rent for the same home would be about €1,805 a month by then.

Fixed or variable?

New home loans in Ireland, August 2026

  • Variable, or fixed up to 1 year4%
  • 1 to 5 years3.4%Your choice
  • 5 to 10 years4.05%
Your rate, 3.4%, against that averageAbout average

If the rate is higher after the first year

+1 point: 4.4%€1,316 a month€127 more a month
+2 points: 5.4%€1,450 a month€261 more a month
+3 points: 6.4%€1,591 a month€402 more a month

With a fixed rate this is what the end of the fixed period can bring: the rest of the loan takes the rate of that day.

Fixed rate

The payment stays the same until the fixed period ends, whatever the market does. You usually pay a little more for that, and leaving early can cost a fee.

Variable rate

Follows the market: usually Euribor plus the bank's margin. It often starts lower and is cheaper to repay early, but the payment moves whenever rates do. The 6-month Euribor averaged 2.92% in September 2026.

What repaying early may cost

Ireland: no fee on a variable rate. On a fixed rate the bank may charge a breakage fee that depends on the market that day — ask for the figure before you decide.

Averages of last month's new loans, from the European Central Bank. They are not offers: your rate depends on you, the home and the bank.

Keep this plan

Create your account and Fyncora sets it up for you: a savings goal for the down payment and the purchase costs. You check every number first.

Kept on this device for 7 days, until you sign up. Nothing is sent before that.

Options you may not know

  • Repay a little extra

    Every extra repayment cuts the interest for all the years that are left. Ask the bank whether it shortens the loan or lowers the payment — and what, if anything, it charges.

  • Move the loan when rates fall

    Another bank can take over the loan at a lower rate. What counts is the saving after the exit fee and the new costs — the loan payoff calculator works that out.

  • Help for a first home

    Several countries cut the purchase tax for a first home or for young buyers, or guarantee part of the loan. Check what applies to you before you count the purchase costs.

  • Don't put in every last euro

    A bigger down payment means less interest and often a better rate. But a home brings repairs: keep a few months of costs aside.

Level 3 — exact, in Fyncora

Save the down payment with a goal that watches your real balance.

Fyncora turns this into a goal for the down payment and the purchase costs, funded by a real account, and tells you the month you'll reach it at your true saving pace.

Start 30 days freeSee it with sample data30 days free, then from €2.50 a month, billed yearly
How this is worked out
  • The payment uses the standard formula for a loan repaid in equal monthly payments, at one rate for the whole term. A real variable-rate loan changes its payment as rates move.
  • The total is the price, the interest and the purchase costs. Owning costs are not in it; they are in the comparison with renting.
  • Rent or buy: both households start with the down payment and the purchase costs. Each month the one that pays less puts the difference into savings. Buying holds the home after selling costs, minus what is still owed, plus savings; renting holds savings.
  • Until you change them, rent and home prices rise 2% a year, savings earn 2%, owning costs are 1.5% of the home's value a year and selling costs 3%. These are assumptions, not forecasts, and amounts are in the money of each year.
  • Average rates are the European Central Bank's bank interest rate statistics for new home loans, by country and by how long the rate is fixed. They are interest rates without fees.
  • “If the rate is higher” re-prices what is still owed after one year over the rest of the term.
  • Lending and early-repayment rules were read on each country's law or regulator pages in October 2026. They change, and each bank adds its own conditions.
  • Guidance, not financial advice. The same calculation runs inside Fyncora on your real numbers.

Sources