Rent Vs Buy

Olim Advice · Tools

Rent or Buy in Israel?

The honest answer is: it depends on how long you'll stay. This runs both paths year by year on Israeli numbers — purchase tax, the oleh benefit, upkeep, and the returns your deposit would earn if you kept renting — and shows you the exact year buying overtakes renting.

Step 1

The numbers

Property price ₪

₪

Monthly rent for the same home ₪

₪

Cash you'd put down ₪ equity

₪

Mortgage rate 5.3%

Horizon 10 years

Assumptions

Home appreciation%/yr

Rent inflation%/yr

Return on invested cash%/yr

Buying coststax+legal, % of price

Upkeep, vaad, arnona% of price/yr

Mortgage termyears

Apply reduced oleh purchase taxcuts buying costs by ~2 points

Over your horizon

—

comes out ahead

—

by this much

—

break-even point

The crossover

Cumulative cost of each path

iEach line is your total net cost so far. Buying starts higher (tax, fees, the deposit's lost returns) then bends down as you build equity and stop paying rent. Where the lines cross is your break-even.

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How this works. The tool runs both paths month by month over your horizon. Buying accrues the deposit, purchase tax and fees, mortgage payments and upkeep, then credits you the home's sale value net of the outstanding loan. Renting accrues rent (growing with inflation) but credits the investment return your deposit earns by staying invested. The crossover is where buying overtakes renting.

It's a model, not a forecast. Appreciation, returns and rent inflation are assumptions you control, and Israeli specifics — betterment tax, mas rechisha bands, the realities of the absorption period — vary case by case. Treat the break-even as a guide and confirm the tax angle with an adviser. olimadvice.com