The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit 7.28% last week, up from 6.34% a year earlier [1]. If you’ve been eyeing a duplex, you’ve probably already heard the verdict: house hacking is dead, the numbers don’t cash flow anymore.
That verdict is answering the wrong question. A house hack was never supposed to be a rental property that happens to have you living in it. It’s a housing decision with an investment attached. The right test is simple: after the tenant’s rent and the principal you pay down, does living in the duplex cost you less than renting?
Here’s that test, run with real arithmetic at today’s rate.
