Rent vs mortgage
Enter the rent you pay and see the British Columbia homes for sale whose mortgage matches it, from live MLS® inventory. Every price is what your own rent carries at today's rates, and every count is homes actually on the market, updated hourly.
A $2,500 rent buys around
$527,000
Cities covered
12
Rent bands
8
Inventory
Updated hourly
$1,500/mo
Buys a home priced around $316,000
4,739 homes
$1,800/mo
Buys a home priced around $380,000
6,808 homes
$2,000/mo
Buys a home priced around $422,000
8,304 homes
$2,200/mo
Buys a home priced around $464,000
9,891 homes
$2,500/mo
Buys a home priced around $527,000
12,538 homes
$3,000/mo
Buys a home priced around $633,000
16,894 homes
$3,500/mo
Buys a home priced around $738,000
21,028 homes
$4,000/mo
Buys a home priced around $844,000
24,722 homes
A $2,500 rent carries a $527,000 purchase price anywhere. What changes by city is how far that reaches against the local market and how many homes actually sit in range.
| City | Median home | Homes under $527,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Surrey | $1,048,000 | 759 |
| Vancouver | $1,398,000 | 288 |
| Richmond | $1,019,000 | 266 |
| Burnaby | $890,000 | 189 |
| Kelowna | $799,000 | 561 |
| Langley | $949,900 | 308 |
| Abbotsford | $824,900 | 334 |
| Coquitlam | $952,450 | 175 |
| Chilliwack | $729,000 | 315 |
| Kamloops | $605,000 | 422 |
| North Vancouver | $1,320,000 | 51 |
| Maple Ridge | $1,099,800 | 136 |
Buying carries one-time costs renting does not: property transfer tax, legal fees and inspection. Budget for them before you compare monthly numbers.
A mortgage payment is not the whole cost. Property tax, strata and insurance sit on top, which is why the all-in number matters more than the headline.
Each mortgage payment buys a little more of the home. Rent buys none of it, and that gap compounds over the years you would have rented.
Renting is easier to leave. Owning ties up your down payment and takes time and cost to unwind, so the break-even math only works if you stay put.
I am Ray Rasouli, a licensed REALTOR® with Real Broker B.C. Ltd. The purchase price is your rent solved back through a standard amortized mortgage, and the listings come from live MLS® inventory refreshed hourly, not a static table. The figures are for comparison, not a mortgage approval. Tell me your situation and I will confirm what you actually qualify for.
Listing data provided by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver and partner boards under MLS® Reciprocity. Deemed reliable but not guaranteed accurate. Mortgage figures are estimates for comparison only, not financial advice. MLS® and REALTOR® are trademarks of CREA.