Rent or buy?
What each path costs over the years you expect to stay. Every assumption is a slider, because every one of them is a guess.
Service charge, insurance and upkeep, which a tenant does not pay.
Nobody knows this. Try a few values.
What the deposit and closing costs would earn invested — a money market fund, say.
How the comparison works
Buying costs the deposit and closing costs on day one, every repayment, and the owner's costs a tenant never sees; at the end you own the home, less what is still owed on the loan. Renting costs every month's rent, rising each year; but the cash you did not put into a deposit stays yours and earns something. The page compares those two net costs over your stay.
Short stays usually favour renting, because stamp duty and legal fees are paid once and take years to earn back. The answer is most sensitive to the home's change in value, which nobody can promise — move that slider before trusting any result. For the rents and prices similar homes actually ask, see the price index.