How much house can you afford?
A price range from your income, existing debts and down payment, using the debt-to-income guidelines many lenders start from.
Not a pre-approval or a loan offer. Lenders set their own limits by loan type, credit score and reserves, and some allow higher ratios.
- Comfortable (28% / 36%)
- $302,000
- Stretch (43% total debt)
- $406,000
- Gross monthly income$8,333
- 28% of income (housing)$2,333
- 36% of income, minus debts$2,600
- Your current debts / income4.8%
The comfortable figure is limited by the 28% housing-cost guideline. This is not a pre-approval. A lender will verify income, credit, assets and the specific property.
How this is calculated
Monthly housing cost for a price P = principal and interest on (P − down payment) + P × property-tax rate ÷ 12 + insurance ÷ 12 + HOA + PMI when the loan is over 80% of the price.
Comfortable range: the highest price where housing cost is no more than 28% of gross monthly income and housing plus your other debt payments is no more than 36%. These “28/36” ratios are a long-standing conventional guideline, not a rule every lender uses.
Stretch: the highest price where housing plus debts reaches 43% of gross income, the ceiling many qualified-mortgage programs have used. Borrowing at the stretch level leaves little room for savings or surprises.
We search for the price numerically, so changes to rate, taxes or debts move both figures immediately.