The calculator keeps a running tally of the most common expenses of owning and renting. It also takes into account something known as lost opportunity costs — for example, the return you could have earned by investing your money instead of spending it on a down payment. The calculator assumes that the profit you would have made in your investments would be taxed as long-term capital gains and adjusts the bottom line accordingly. The calculator tabulates lost opportunity costs for all parts of the buying and renting scenarios.

Purchase costs are the costs you incur when you go to the closing for the home you are purchasing. This includes the down payment and typical closing costs.

Yearly costs are recurring monthly or yearly expenses. These include mortgage payments, condo fees (or other community living fees), renovation costs, maintenance costs, property taxes and homeowner’s insurance. Property taxes, the interest part of the mortgage payment, and in some cases, a portion of the common charges, are tax deductible. The resulting tax savings is accounted for in each item’s totals. The mortgage payment amount increases each year for the term of the loan because the tax credit shrinks each year as the interest portion of the payments becomes smaller.

Lost opportunity costs are tracked for the initial purchase costs and for the yearly costs. The former will give you an idea of how much you could have made if you had invested the down payment instead of buying your home.

Selling costs are the costs you incur when you go to the closing for the home you are selling. This includes the broker’s commission and other fees, as well as the remaining principal balance that you pay to your mortgage bank. “Proceeds from home sale” is the money that you receive from the person who is buying your home. This amount is equal to the value of the home that year and is shown as a negative number since it is not something that you spend money on, but rather, it is money you receive.

If your cumulative buying total is negative, it actually means you have done very well: you made enough of a profit that it not only covered the cost of your home, but also all of your yearly operating expenses.

Initial costs are the rent security deposit and, if applicable, the broker’s fee.

Yearly costs are the monthly rent and the cost of renter’s insurance.

Lost opportunity costs are calculated each year for both your initial costs and your yearly costs.

Leaving your rental is equal to the rent security deposit, typically returned to a renter at the end of a lease.

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Known as Tempo, the 20-story condominium building was originally scheduled for completion in 2009. It hit the market in September 2008 with a million-dollar sales office that included a $500,000 spinning hologram of the structure, which has 98 units. But unfortunate timing aside, other problems stalled construction, and residents did not start moving in until last August.

The building has one-, two- and three-bedroom units, priced from the high $800,000s to almost $3 million. It is 73 percent sold, with an average price per square foot of $1,275, said Bertrand Buchin, a senior vice president of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate, which is handling sales.

The glass-and-concrete building, designed by Kutnicki Bernstein Architects of Manhattan, consists of a tower sitting on a base that rises to the 13th floor. Apartments in the tower, which have largely unobstructed views in all directions, have been selling for about $1,500 a square foot, with one three-bedroom condo recently selling for $1,900 a square foot, Mr. Buchin said.

The stunning views came as a pleasant surprise, he added. “We didn’t anticipate the views when we were creating the building, because 23rd and Second Avenue is not necessarily what you’d think of as a view area, and this is only a 20-story building. But we got very lucky.”

A number of events conspired to keep the Tempo on ice. The developer, the Menolly Group, one of Ireland’s largest home builders, started sales on the very day that Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. Menolly later fired its local development associate, Quantum Partners, and accused a Quantum executive of using Tempo contractors for private work; the dispute landed in court. The Menolly Group, which is based outside Dublin, did not respond to requests for comment.

Tempo was also forced to shut down its sales office for nine months in 2010 because of permit issues with the Buildings Department, said Deanna Raida, a Prudential Douglas Elliman broker also handling Tempo sales. Almost all sales have taken place since the sales office reopened in January 2011, she said.

Menolly had more bad luck at the site of what was to have been a companion development to Tempo, called Crescendo, at 950 Second Avenue, between 50th and 51st Streets. Tempo and Crescendo were supposed to have opened at the same time, Mr. Buchin said, but on March 15, 2008, a six-ton crane on a nearby tower site collapsed, killing seven people and sparking an investigation into workplace safety practices. Part of the crane landed in the Crescendo property.

“The crane fell on our site,” Mr. Buchin said. “We couldn’t build for 9, 10 months, and then the economy being what it is, we said, ‘Let’s hold on.’ Finally, we sold the lot.”

Despite the global real estate crisis and a growing economic crisis at home in Ireland, developers “kept a cool head” regarding Tempo and decided to forge ahead. “They had to really believe in the building,” he said.

Many of Tempo’s buyers are neighborhood residents looking for new construction, Ms. Raida said, adding that others are from overseas. Almost all are buying to live in their apartments, rather than for investment purposes. “We have only a handful of investor units that have been rented out,” she said.

Apart from the architect, the team at Tempo is largely European. Kitchens and baths have Italian lacquer cabinetry; kitchens have Sub-Zero and Bosch appliances. A 3,300-square-foot rooftop entertainment area has a long communal dining table and a kitchen. Mr. Buchin said that concept had been borrowed from the popular European-style Pain Quotidien restaurants.

Francis D’Haene, the principal of D’Apostrophe Design, which created a home for one of the founders of Le Pain Quotidien, designed the building’s interiors. Mr. D’Haene’s studio is in Manhattan, though he is from Belgium.

“I wanted to do something that had a sophisticated feel,” he said, “simple but warm, not specifically European — except that I am European, so maybe there’s always some European aesthetic in my designs.” He said he thought the lobby, with its sleek lines and bright red cushioned seating area, particularly captured the youthful and international aesthetic he had envisioned.

Not that many foreign developers have tested the Manhattan market, said Dan Fasulo, a managing director of the research company Real Capital Analytics. Another current project in the city is 400 Fifth Avenue, by Bizzi & Partners Development of Milan.

“Recently, we’re seeing more international capital sources in the New York market,” Mr. Fasulo said, “but projects done by developers based abroad are rarer than you’d think.”

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