How Much House Can I Afford?
This free House Affordability Calculator estimates a realistic home purchase price two ways: from your household income and debts, or from a fixed monthly budget you want to spend on housing. Choose your currency, fill in your numbers, and press Calculate.
Understanding House Affordability
Knowing how much house you can afford is the first real step in any home search, and it depends on more than the number a lender is willing to approve. This calculator looks at the full picture: your income, your existing debts, the interest rate you'll pay, your down payment, and the ongoing costs of owning a home such as property tax, insurance, HOA fees, and maintenance.
The income-based calculator works the way most mortgage lenders think. It applies a debt-to-income (DTI) ratio — the share of your gross monthly income that can safely go toward housing and other debt — and works backward to find the home price that fits inside that limit. You can pick a standard rule (Conventional 28/36, FHA 31/43, VA 41%) or set your own custom ratio between 10% and 50%.
The fixed budget calculator is simpler and useful if you already know what you're comfortable paying each month, regardless of your income. Enter your monthly housing budget and the calculator solves for the largest home price your loan term, interest rate, and down payment can support, optionally folding in tax, insurance, HOA, and maintenance costs.
Why the down payment matters so much
A larger down payment reduces the loan amount, lowers your monthly payment, and — for conventional loans — can remove the need for private mortgage insurance (PMI), which typically applies whenever the down payment is below 20%. This calculator automatically factors PMI into conventional and custom-DTI results when the down payment is under 20%.
How to Use This Calculator
- Pick your currency from the dropdown at the top — USD, EUR, GBP, Hungarian Forint (HUF), or another supported currency.
- Choose a calculator mode: use "Income-Based" if you want to know what a lender might approve, or "Fixed Budget" if you already have a monthly housing number in mind.
- Fill in the fields — income or budget, loan term, interest rate, down payment percentage, and the recurring costs (property tax, HOA, insurance, maintenance).
- Select a DTI ratio (income-based only) that matches your situation, or leave the default Conventional 28/36 rule.
- Press Calculate to see your estimated affordable home price, down payment amount, loan amount, and a full monthly payment breakdown.
- Adjust and recalculate as needed — try a bigger down payment or a longer loan term to see how your affordability changes.
Worked Example
Suppose a household earns $120,000 a year with no other monthly debt, wants a 30-year loan at 6.5% interest, plans to put 20% down, and expects property tax of 1.5%/year and insurance of 0.5%/year, using the Conventional 28/36 rule.
| Maximum front-end housing budget (28% of income) | $2,800 / month |
| Estimated affordable home price | ≈ $438,000 |
| Down payment (20%) | ≈ $87,600 |
| Loan amount | ≈ $350,400 |
| Monthly principal & interest | ≈ $2,215 |
| Monthly property tax | ≈ $547 |
| Monthly insurance | ≈ $182 |
Try these exact numbers in the calculator above to see the full breakdown, or swap in your own income, debts, and rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
DTI is the percentage of your gross monthly income that goes toward debt payments. The front-end ratio covers housing costs only; the back-end ratio covers housing plus all other recurring debt like car loans, student loans, and credit cards. Lenders use both to decide how much they're willing to lend.
Each loan type has its own risk rules. Conventional loans typically use 28% front-end / 36% back-end. FHA loans allow more room (31%/43%) because they carry mandatory mortgage insurance. VA loans only check the back-end ratio (41%) and don't require a down payment or PMI, though funding fees still apply.
Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) protects the lender when a conventional buyer puts down less than 20%. This calculator automatically adds an estimated 0.5% annual PMI charge on the loan balance whenever your down payment is below 20% on a Conventional or Custom DTI selection.
No. Selecting a currency only changes the symbol and formatting shown in your results. Enter your income, budget, and costs directly in your chosen currency — for example, enter Forint amounts directly if you select HUF.
Use the income-based calculator to estimate what a lender is likely to approve. Use the fixed budget calculator if you've already decided on a comfortable monthly housing payment and want to know what home price that supports.
No. This tool gives a quick estimate for planning purposes only. Actual loan approval, rates, and terms depend on your lender's full underwriting process, credit history, and documentation.