Buy or rent a condo in Sherbrooke: after how many years buying beats renting, cumulative net cost over 15 years under three appreciation scenarios (Centris, Bank of Canada)

Buy-or-rent break-even · Sherbrooke · 2026

The median rent in Sherbrooke against buying the median 2026 condo with the minimum down, year by year over 15 years: what each has cost net, after resale on one side and investment gains on the other, and the year buying moves ahead depending on whether the condo gains 0%, 2% or 4% a year. Centris data, assumptions in black and white.

In Sherbrooke, buying the median 2026 condo ($318,000) with the minimum down payment ($15,900) and $4,770 of buying costs comes to $1,917 a month, condo fees included, against a median rent of $1,400: the tenant keeps $517 a month at the start. The buyer makes up that gap through the principal they repay ($602 a month in the first year) and through appreciation, minus the 5% selling costs. Result: if the condo gains 2% a year, buying beats renting after 5 years; at 0% appreciation, 12 years; at 4%, 3 years. It is one of the shortest break-evens among the 50 cities and boroughs tracked (median 5 years at 2%). To come out even after five years, the condo has to gain 1.7% a year; after ten years, 0.2% a year is enough. Assumptions: rent +2%/yr, buying costs 1.5%, selling 5%, savings at 3%; taxes and maintenance excluded. Sources: Centris, Bank of Canada, compiled October 8, 2026.

The short answer

In Sherbrooke, buying the median 2026 condo ($318,000) with the minimum down payment ($15,900) and $4,770 of buying costs comes to $1,917 a month, condo fees included, against a median rent of $1,400: the tenant keeps $517 a month at the start. The buyer makes up that gap through the principal they repay ($602 a month in the first year) and through appreciation, minus the 5% selling costs. Result: if the condo gains 2% a year, buying beats renting after 5 years; at 0% appreciation, 12 years; at 4%, 3 years. It is one of the shortest break-evens among the 50 cities and boroughs tracked (median 5 years at 2%). To come out even after five years, the condo has to gain 1.7% a year; after ten years, 0.2% a year is enough.

Cumulative net cost, buying versus renting in Sherbrooke

Net cost = everything paid out minus what is recovered (resale for the buyer, investment gains for the tenant). Median rent $1,400 and median condo $318,000 from Centris over twelve months; mortgage at 4.14% (Bank of Canada), minimum down 5.0%, CMHC premium in the loan. Taxes, insurance and maintenance excluded.

What the simulation says in Sherbrooke

• At the start, the buyer puts out $20,670 (minimum down payment $15,900, 5.0% of the price, plus $4,770 of buying costs, welcome tax on top) and pays $517 a month more than the tenant. On resale, they leave $15,900 in costs on today's price.
• After five years, at 2% appreciation a year, buying has cost -$5,421 less than renting; after ten years, -$58,664. At 0% appreciation, ten years of buying cost +$7,495 more than ten years of renting; at 4%, -$137,587.
• The annual appreciation needed to come out even: 1.7% over five years, 0.2% over ten. What the median condo in Sherbrooke actually did since 2016 is on the condo prices in Sherbrooke page; the next ten years are not promised.
• The condo price is worth 18.9 years of rent in Sherbrooke. The higher that ratio, the further the break-even, because the down payment and selling costs grow with the price while the rent stays the benchmark.
• Across the 50 cities and boroughs tracked, the median break-even is 5 years at 2% appreciation, 13 years at 0% and 3 years at 4%; at 2%, buying wins within five years in 30 units and within ten in 49; at 0%, it never catches up with renting in fifteen years in 18 units. The median appreciation needed to break even at five years is 1.8% a year.

What it changes for you in Sherbrooke

In Sherbrooke, the break-even is short: the rent is close to the cost of the condo, the down payment is small, and the principal repaid does the rest. A buyer who plans to stay 5 years or more has little reason to wait, unless they expect prices to fall; even a condo that gains nothing beats renting after 12 years. The real risk here is having to sell in the first two or three years: buying and selling costs are not yet absorbed, and renting would have won. The detailed monthly cost, interest, principal and fees, is in rent or buy a condo in Sherbrooke; the investor's view, in investing in a rental condo in Sherbrooke.

How to read these figures

One calculation per city, the same rules everywhere, to compare cities with each other more than to predict a specific household. What shortens the break-even: a high rent relative to the price, a small down payment, a condo that gains value, low condo fees. What lengthens it: a high price in years of rent, the 5% selling costs, the taxes and maintenance this calculation leaves out, and a forced resale in the first years. The minimum down payment is the owner-occupant's (5.0% here, with the CMHC premium in the loan). Assumptions, the same for every city: rent and condo fees +2% a year (the Bank of Canada's inflation target); condo appreciation of 0%, 2% or 4% a year depending on the scenario (the median condo gained 106% in ten years, or 7.5% a year, from 2016 to 2026: all three scenarios are below that); buying costs of 1.5% of the price (notary, inspection, adjustments; the welcome tax comes on top and varies by city); selling costs of 5% (brokerage and notary); the tenant's savings, the down payment and buying costs they did not spend plus the monthly gap whenever renting costs less, invested at 3% a year net. Taxes, insurance and maintenance are not counted: they fall on the buyer and push the break-even further out.

Frequently asked questions

After how many years does buying a condo beat renting in Sherbrooke?

5 years if the median condo gains 2% a year, 12 years if it gains nothing, 3 years at 4%. With the minimum down, $1,917 a month against a rent of $1,400; buying costs 1.5%, selling 5%, tenant's savings at 3%.

How much appreciation does buying need to pay off in Sherbrooke?

1.7% a year to come out even after five years, 0.2% after ten. What the median condo in Sherbrooke did since 2016 is on the condo prices page; no future increase is guaranteed.

What tips the balance?

The holding period. Below the break-even, buying and selling costs ($20,670 in total on today's price) are not absorbed and renting wins; beyond it, the principal repaid and appreciation make buying win. A household that does not know whether it will stay 5 years should rent and invest the difference.

Sources: Centris (Matrix), Rental module, leases concluded from September 16, 2025 to September 16, 2026 for Sherbrooke, 41 leases, median; Statistics module, median sale price of condos in 2026 and median condo fees; Bank of Canada and Statistics Canada (10-10-0006), 5-year fixed rate charged, January to July 2026 average; CMHC down payment rules and premiums in force in 2026; simulation by the Loaa & Manseur team under the stated assumptions, aggregates only. This is not financial advice. The buy-or-rent break-even for a condo in 50 cities and boroughs hub compares the 50 units.

Our proof, not our promises

The Loaa & Manseur team, led by Lotfi Manseur and Loaa Al Daow, is the number 1 team at RE/MAX Platine in 2024 and 2025, 6th RE/MAX team in Quebec, 15th in Canada and in the global top 50 of large residential teams according to the official RE/MAX ranking, computed on actual transactions. Its Google profile counts more than 220 reviews with a 4.9 rating. Its offices are at 55 avenue de l'Équinoxe in Brossard, one bridge from the island, and every broker's licence can be checked in the OACIQ public register. Three things to verify yourself before calling us, and to demand of any other broker.

Also available in French: version française de ce guide.

Published September 7, 2026 by the Loaa & Manseur team, the number 1 team at RE/MAX Platine in 2024 and 2025, 6th RE/MAX team in Quebec, 15th in Canada and in the global top 50 according to the official RE/MAX ranking. Tell us about your project.