When you buy a home, a lot of the money you spend isn't going toward your home equity. The cost of homeownership includes the money you spend on fees, taxes, and interest. These costs do not increase the value of your home nor do they reduce the principal on your mortgage.
We did some analysis on the cost of homeownership versus the cost of renting. Rental costs are offset by the interest you make on the cash you did not have to put toward a down payment. Homeownership costs are offset by the tax deduction you get on your mortgage interest payments.
The cost of owning a home will typically exceed the cost of renting when the price-to-rent ratio (the cost of buying a home divided by the annual rent of similar property) is greater than 20. We used data provided by Zillow for this analysis.
There are numerous other factors that should be considered when deciding whether to rent or buy a home. But start by figuring out whether the cost of owning is relatively cheap or expensive based on your specific needs.