How long until buying beats renting in Florida?

The break-even year, at different rates of appreciation

A $400,000 home in Miami-Dade against $2,600 rent, 20% down at 6.75%, rent rising 3% a year, 8% to sell, and the renter investing the difference at 4%:

At zero appreciation the answer is not “never” — principal paydown and the homestead exemption still work — but it takes far longer, and that is the scenario worth testing before you commit.

And by county, at 4% appreciation

The county moves the answer because property tax does. Two identical homes at the same price, bought on the same day with the same loan, break even years apart depending on which side of a county line they sit.

Why this is the question, and the interest rate is not

Buyers spend months watching rates and minutes thinking about how long they will stay. The arithmetic runs the other way: a full point of interest moves the break-even by about a year, while the difference between staying four years and staying nine changes the answer completely.

Where these numbers come from

Same engine and same assumptions as our rent-or-buy calculator: millage from the Florida Department of Revenue (2025), insurance scaled from the standardized $300,000 dwelling policy priced at $8,471 for Florida by Quadrant Information Services, maintenance at 0.5% of value a year, 3% to buy, 8% to sell, and the renter investing the difference at 4%. Appreciation and rent growth are your assumptions.

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