Rent versus buy

What would a comparable home rent for?

The only rent published for Houston is HUD's two-bedroom Fair Market Rent, $1,573 a month. You are pricing a house, so that figure answers a different question. Enter what a home like the one above would rent for.

Adjust your numbers

The purchase

Purchase price

Down payment · $34,000

Amortization

Property type

Rent

Rent you are comparing against, monthly

HUD publishes $1,573 as the Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom apartment — a smaller home than the one priced above

Rent inflation, annual

How long you expect to stay

Appreciation assumption

Inflation 3.4% a year · shelter growth 4% · flat market 0%.estimate

Investment return assumption

Cash 2.4% a year · balanced 4.6% · growth 5.8%.estimate

Home insurance, annual

Utilities and heat, monthly

Condo fee, monthly

Down payment sets the loan, whether PMI applies, and which contract rate you get. Amortization sets the payoff year marked on the chart.

Every figure that carries a sourcing record names where it came from: a dated published source, an estimate we disclose, or nothing at all where nothing is published.

Rules last verified 2026-09-03