Is it better to rent or buy a home?

In United States

With a conventional loan and a down payment under 20%, lenders generally require private mortgage insurance (PMI). It protects the lender, not you, and adds to the cost. You can ask for it to be cancelled once the balance is scheduled to reach 80% of the home’s original value, and the servicer must end it automatically at a scheduled 78%, provided your payments are current.

• Closing costs typically include the appraisal, title insurance, government taxes and prepaid property tax, insurance and interest. Seller or lender credits move the cost rather than remove it.
• You must receive a Closing Disclosure at least three business days before closing, so you can compare it with your Loan Estimate.
• Property taxes and homeowner’s insurance are often paid through an escrow account and can change from year to year, changing your monthly payment with them.

In Canada

• First Home Savings Account (FHSA) — for first-time buyers (no owner-occupied home in the current year or the previous four), Canadian residents aged 18 (19 in some provinces) to 71. Up to $8,000 of room a year and $40,000 in a lifetime; contributions are generally tax-deductible, and you can save for a qualifying first home tax-free. The account can stay open for up to 15 years.
• Home Buyers’ Plan — withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSPs to buy a first home, repaid over 15 years. For a first withdrawal made from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2028, repayments start in the fifth year after the withdrawal rather than the second.
• Minimum down payment — 5% of the first $500,000, 10% of the part from $500,000 to $1.5 million, and 20% at $1.5 million or more. Below a 20% down payment, mortgage loan insurance is required, with premiums of 0.6% to 4.5% of the mortgage.
• Since 15 December 2024, first-time buyers and buyers of newly built homes can take a 30-year amortisation on an insured mortgage, and the price cap for insured mortgages is $1.5 million.

In United Kingdom

Stamp Duty Land Tax (England and Northern Ireland) on a home: 0% up to £125,000, 2% to £250,000, 5% to £925,000, 10% to £1.5 million and 12% above. First-time buyers pay nothing up to £300,000 and 5% from £300,001 to £500,000, but get no relief at all on a home costing more than £500,000. Second homes carry a 5% surcharge, and buyers not resident in the UK a further 2%. Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Wales Land Transaction Tax, with their own bands.

A Lifetime ISA can be opened from 18 to 39. You can pay in up to £4,000 a year until you are 50 and the government adds a 25% bonus (up to £1,000 a year). It can go toward a first home costing £450,000 or less, bought at least 12 months after your first payment; most other withdrawals cost a 25% charge.

In Europe

The costs that decide rent or buy — transfer taxes, notary and registration fees, any tax relief on mortgage interest, how much banks may lend against a home, and how strongly tenants are protected — are set nationally, and differ widely between member states. Check each of those for your country.

What the EU’s Mortgage Credit Directive gives every borrower:

• A standard information sheet (the ESIS), with the annual percentage rate of charge, so offers can be compared like for like.
• At least seven days to consider a binding offer — as a reflection period, a right to withdraw, or both, depending on the country.
• A compulsory assessment of whether you can afford the loan.
• The right to repay early. Countries may allow the lender fair and objective compensation for costs linked to the early repayment, which must not exceed its financial loss, and may add conditions.

In Australia

• The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme lets first home buyers buy with a deposit from 5% (2% for single parents and legal guardians) without paying lenders mortgage insurance. Since 1 October 2025 it has no income caps and no waitlists. It is for owner-occupiers, through participating lenders, and the price must be under a cap for the area — for example $1.5 million in Sydney and NSW regional centres, and $950,000 in Melbourne and Victorian regional centres.
• First Home Super Saver scheme — voluntary contributions you make to super can later be released toward a first home: up to $15,000 from any one year and $50,000 in total.
• Stamp duty is set by each state and territory. New South Wales, for example, exempts first home buyers from transfer duty on homes up to $800,000 and reduces it up to $1 million.

In New Zealand

• KiwiSaver first-home withdrawal — after at least three years in KiwiSaver, a first-home buyer can withdraw their savings, including their own, employer and government contributions and the returns, but must leave $1,000 in the account. Money transferred in from an Australian complying super scheme cannot be withdrawn.
• Deposits under 20% — Reserve Bank lending limits let banks make no more than 25% of new owner-occupier lending at more than 80% of the home’s value (from 1 December 2025; it was 20%). Since 2024, debt-to-income restrictions also cap how much of a bank’s mortgage lending can go to borrowers whose debt is high relative to their income. Banks apply their own criteria on top.
• Bright-line test — a profit on residential property sold within two years of buying it is taxed (for sales from 1 July 2024). Your main home is generally excluded.

In Singapore

• CPF for housing — Ordinary Account savings can pay for an HDB flat or a private home: the down payment, the loan, and stamp and legal fees. When you sell, you must refund the CPF you used plus the interest accrued on it to your CPF account. Under Liabilities, Nivritee’s Singapore template names the CPF housing refund obligation among the items common in Singapore.
• Borrowing limits — an HDB loan can be up to 75% of the price or valuation, whichever is lower. The instalment on an HDB flat or executive condominium may not exceed 30% of gross monthly income (the Mortgage Servicing Ratio), and all debt repayments together are held to 55% (the Total Debt Servicing Ratio).
• Stamp duty — Buyer’s Stamp Duty applies to every purchase. Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty is added on top: none for a citizen’s first home, 20% on a second and 30% on a third; 5%, 30% and 35% for permanent residents; and 60% for foreigners (rates from 27 April 2023).

In Hong Kong

• Lending limits — since 16 October 2024, the maximum loan-to-value ratio for a home mortgage is 70% and the debt-servicing ratio limit 50%, whatever the property’s value and whether or not you live in it (HKMA).
• Mortgage insurance — under the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation’s Mortgage Insurance Programme, banks can lend more: up to 80% on homes up to HK$15 million, and up to 90% where every borrower holds no residential property in Hong Kong when applying and every applicant is a salaried employee, on homes up to HK$10 million (with a loan cap of HK$9 million up to HK$11.25 million). You pay the insurance premium.
• Extra stamp duties removed — Special Stamp Duty, Buyer’s Stamp Duty and New Residential Stamp Duty are no longer charged on residential property bought from 28 February 2024.

In Japan

Japan’s housing loan tax credit (住宅ローン控除) takes 0.7% of your year-end mortgage balance off your income tax each year, for up to 13 years on a qualifying new home, with the balance that counts capped according to the home’s energy-efficiency class. The FY2026 tax reform, decided by the Cabinet on 26 December 2025 and enacted on 31 March 2026, extended it to homes moved into by 31 December 2030. It also lengthened the period to 13 years for energy-efficient existing homes and extended the relaxed 40㎡ minimum floor area to existing homes. New homes that only meet the basic energy standard and receive building confirmation from 2028 drop out.

In India

Since 2014, banks have not been allowed to charge individuals a foreclosure charge or prepayment penalty on a floating-rate home loan. The Reserve Bank’s Pre-payment Charges on Loans Directions, 2025 widen that rule. For loans sanctioned or renewed from 1 January 2026, no regulated lender — commercial bank, co-operative bank, NBFC (housing finance companies included) or all-India financial institution — may charge an individual a pre-payment charge on a floating-rate loan taken for anything other than business, whether you prepay part or all of it.

What that means for rent or buy: a floating-rate home loan can be paid down early or moved to a cheaper lender without a penalty, which makes buying more flexible than it once was. A fixed-rate loan may still carry a charge, so read the sanction letter and the Key Facts Statement before you sign.

In Malaysia

• EPF for housing — since the accounts were restructured on 11 May 2024, new contributions are split 75% to Akaun Persaraan, 15% to Akaun Sejahtera and 10% to Akaun Fleksibel. Housing withdrawals, for members under 55, come from Akaun Sejahtera: toward buying or building a home, reducing or redeeming a housing loan, or covering monthly instalments in financial difficulty. A purchase withdrawal can help finance up to two homes, but the first must be sold before withdrawing for the second.
• Stamp duty — Malaysian citizens buying a first home priced up to RM500,000 pay no stamp duty on the instrument of transfer or the loan agreement, for sale and purchase agreements signed from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027 (Budget 2026). From 1 January 2026, non-citizens other than permanent residents pay a fixed 8% on the transfer of a home.
• Affordability — Bank Negara Malaysia’s responsible lending rules require banks to check that your income after statutory deductions, essential spending and your other debts can meet the repayments.