Rent or buy a Vancouver condo? A ten-year comparison at three price-growth rates

Updated November 13, 2026 · 404 words

"Rent is throwing money away" is the most repeated line in Vancouver real estate. It's also incomplete. Owners throw money away too: on mortgage interest, strata fees, property tax, and maintenance. The real question is which set of unrecoverable costs is smaller, and what happens to the money each choice leaves free.

This guide compares buying a $750,000 condo with renting a similar unit for $2,900 a month, over ten years, at three rates of price growth.

Houses Apartments — In Metro Vancouver, renting and owning the same kind of unit can differ by more than $1,000 a month.

The monthly comparison

The buyer puts 20% down ($150,000), pays about $15,000 in closing costs, and takes a $600,000 mortgage at 4.5% over 25 years.

Stacked bar comparing year-one monthly costs: owning costs $4,063, made up of $2,207 interest, $1,114 principal, $450 strata fee, $167 property tax and $125 maintenance, against $2,900 rent — Of the owner's $4,063, about $1,114 a month is principal, which is savings rather than a cost.

Monthly, year one	Own	Rent
Mortgage interest	$2,207
Mortgage principal	$1,114
Strata fee	$450
Property tax	$167
Maintenance	$125
Rent		$2,900
Total cash out	$4,063	$2,900

Leave principal out and the owner's unrecoverable costs are about $2,950 a month, almost exactly the rent. That's why the outcome depends so heavily on what prices do next.

Net worth after ten years

To compare fairly, the renter invests the $165,000 the buyer spent up front, plus the monthly difference, and earns 5% a year. Rent rises 3% a year.

Line chart of net worth over ten years: buying reaches about $288,000 if prices are flat, $447,000 at 2% a year and $636,000 at 4% a year, while renting and investing reaches about $389,000 — Buying wins at 2% a year of price growth and loses if prices stay flat.

Price growth	Buyer after 10 years	Renter after 10 years
0% a year	about $288,000	about $389,000
2% a year	about $447,000	about $389,000
4% a year	about $636,000	about $389,000

The break-even

Line chart of the buyer's ten-year net worth minus the renter's, by annual price growth, crossing zero at about 1.4% a year — Below about 1.4% a year of price growth, renting and investing comes out ahead under these assumptions.

Under these assumptions, buying wins if condo prices rise faster than about 1.4% a year. That's a low bar compared with Vancouver's long-run history, but condo prices in parts of the region have been flat or falling for several years. The result also assumes the renter really invests the difference every month, which many people don't.

Living Room — A renter who invests the difference every month is the fair comparison, and the hardest one to live up to.

What moves the answer

The rent you can actually get. Compare asking rents for the same building and size. EstateBlock's Vancouver rental market report tracks rents by city and unit type.
Strata fees. A $700 fee instead of $450 adds $3,000 a year to owning.
How long you stay. Buying and selling costs about 5% of the price in total, so short stays favour renting.
Rates. Every 1% on a $600,000 mortgage is roughly $340 a month at the start.

Sources and further reading

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: Mortgage calculator
CMHC: Rental market reports

Hypothetical figures. General information only, not financial advice.

Photos (CC0): Houses Apartments by Oscar Nilsson; Living Room by Dan Gold.