Multifamily Mortgage Calculator
A multifamily mortgage is underwritten on the property’s income, not just your salary. This calculator estimates the monthly payment on a 2+ unit property, then does what plain mortgage tools skip: it folds in rental income, vacancy, taxes, insurance and operating costs to show net operating income, cash flow, DSCR, cap rate and cash-on-cash return, with a balloon-loan option and a yearly amortization schedule for the financing side.
The yearly amortization schedule lives on the second tab above. If you entered a balloon term that is not a whole number of years, the schedule shows full years up to the balloon date; the balloon balance itself is computed to the exact month.
Yearly amortization
Click Calculate on the first tab to build the payment schedule.
| Year | Paid | Principal | Interest | Balance |
|---|
Paid is the total principal and interest paid each year. On a balloon loan the schedule stops at the balloon date, when the remaining balance comes due in full.
Quick Answer
A $600,000 triplex with $150,000 down (25%) at 6.5% over 30 years and $5,400 monthly rent prices at a $450,000 loan, $2,844.31 monthly principal and interest, and $3,494.31 PITI. After 5% vacancy and $1,206.50 in operating expenses, net operating income is $3,923.50 a month, cash flow is $1,079.19, the DSCR is 1.38 and the cap rate is 7.85%. Enter your own deal above to get the full investor picture.
Key takeaways
- DSCR decides whether the loan gets made: 1.20 is the common minimum, 1.25 or higher is where most lenders are comfortable, and agency term sheets such as Fannie Mae’s set 1.20x as the floor.
- Vacancy is a cost, not a footnote: this calculator reduces rent by your vacancy rate before any expense is subtracted, which is how underwriters do it.
- Cap rate compares properties, cash-on-cash compares your cash: cap rate ignores financing, while cash-on-cash divides cash flow by your actual down payment.
- Balloon loans are priced on the full amortization schedule but come due early: the monthly payment looks like a 30-year loan while the whole balance lands in year 7 or 10.
- Quick Answer
- How to use the multifamily mortgage calculator
- How the payment, NOI and the three ratios are computed
- Worked example: a $600,000 triplex
- Balloon loans and the amortization schedule
- Reading the three ratios: DSCR, cap rate and cash-on-cash
- What competing calculators miss
- Frequently asked questions
- Add This Calculator to Your Website
- References
How to use the multifamily mortgage calculator
Enter the deal terms, the income, and the expenses, then click Calculate. The results stay hidden until you do, and the yearly amortization schedule fills the second tab.
- Price the loan: property value, down payment, interest rate and amortization term are pre-filled with the $600,000 triplex example. The loan amount, LTV and the standard amortizing payment follow from these.
- Add the income and expenses: monthly rent, vacancy rate, annual tax, insurance and maintenance, the management fee and any other monthly costs. These build effective income, operating expenses and NOI.
- Optionally set a balloon term: commercial multifamily loans often amortize over 25 or 30 years but come due in 5, 7 or 10. Enter the balloon year to see the exact balance due at that date; leave it blank for a fully amortizing loan.
- Read the verdict: the badge and verdict line score the DSCR against lender thresholds (1.20 minimum, 1.25 comfort) and tell you the monthly cash flow, positive or negative. The cap rate calculator isolates the cap-rate side if you want to compare properties without financing.
Everything a plain mortgage payment calculator shows is here too, but the point of this page is the investor layer on top: NOI, cash flow, DSCR, cap rate and cash-on-cash, computed from your numbers rather than guessed.
How the payment, NOI and the three ratios are computed
The monthly principal and interest uses the standard amortization formula; the investor metrics follow from the property’s income statement. Each line is computed exactly as lenders define it.
PITI = P&I + (annual tax ÷ 12) + (annual insurance ÷ 12)
Effective income = gross rent × (1 − vacancy rate)
Operating expenses = monthly tax + monthly insurance + maintenance ÷ 12 + management fee + other monthly
NOI = effective income − operating expenses (monthly; × 12 for annual)
Cash flow = NOI − P&I
DSCR = annual NOI ÷ annual debt service (P&I × 12)
Cap rate = annual NOI ÷ property value
Cash-on-cash = annual cash flow ÷ down payment
Two definitions matter because competitors get them wrong. First, vacancy reduces income before expenses are touched: many quick tools compute NOI on gross rent, which flatters every ratio. Second, debt service in the DSCR is the principal-and-interest payment only, not PITI: taxes and insurance already sit inside operating expenses, so including them again in debt service would double-count them. That is the standard agency definition Fannie Mae’s multifamily guide uses, and it is the one lenders apply at underwriting.
Worked example: a $600,000 triplex
The pre-filled inputs are a $600,000 purchase with $150,000 down (25%), a 6.5% rate on a 30-year amortization, $5,400 monthly rent, 5% vacancy, $6,000 annual tax, $1,800 insurance, $2,400 maintenance, a 5% management fee and $100 in other monthly costs. The calculator returns:
- Loan $450,000 at 75.00% LTV; monthly P&I $2,844.31; PITI $3,494.31
- Effective income $5,130.00; operating expenses $1,206.50; NOI $3,923.50 per month
- Monthly cash flow $1,079.19; cash-on-cash 8.63%; DSCR 1.38; cap rate 7.85%
Check the DSCR verdict the tool gives: 1.38 clears the 1.25 level most lenders want to see, and the property cash-flows $1,079.19 a month after all costs. If you are weighing this deal against another purchase, the buying rental property calculator frames the acquisition side while this page handles the financing and underwriting.
Balloon loans and the amortization schedule
Commercial multifamily loans often amortize over 25 or 30 years but come due sooner: a 10-year term on a 30-year amortization leaves a balloon payment. Enter a balloon term and the calculator keeps pricing the payment on the full amortization schedule, exactly how lenders quote these loans, then shows the remaining balance due at that date. On the triplex example, a 7-year balloon leaves $406,873.10 due in year 7.
The yearly amortization table on the second tab shows how each year’s payment splits between principal and interest, and how slowly the balance falls in the early years when interest dominates. On a balloon loan the schedule stops at the balloon date, when the remaining balance comes due in full. One display note: if the balloon term is not a whole number of years, the schedule shows full years up to the balloon date while the balloon balance itself is computed to the exact month (a 5.5-year balloon on the example leaves $417,828.13).
Balloon structures carry real refinancing risk: if rates are higher or the property underperforms when the balance comes due, you must refinance, sell, or pay cash. That is why the CFPB treats balloon payments as a risky loan feature, generally excluded from qualified mortgages. Smaller multifamily deals (2–4 units) are often financed with plain 30-year residential-style loans instead; the duplex mortgage calculator covers that end of the market.
Reading the three ratios: DSCR, cap rate and cash-on-cash
The three ratios answer three different questions, and mixing them up is the most common mistake in deal analysis. DSCR asks whether the lender gets paid; cap rate asks what the property yields regardless of financing; cash-on-cash asks what your actual cash earns.
| Ratio | Formula | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| DSCR | Annual NOI ÷ annual debt service | ≥ 1.25 comfortable 1.20–1.25 meets minimum < 1.20 hard to place |
| Cap rate | Annual NOI ÷ property value | No universal good or bad: compare against similar properties in the same market |
| Cash-on-cash | Annual cash flow ÷ down payment | 8–12% is a common underwriting target for stabilized properties |
A useful cross-check from the worked example: DSCR and cash-on-cash can disagree. The triplex shows a comfortable 1.38 DSCR but an 8.63% cash-on-cash return, because the 25% down payment is a large cash base. Leverage lifts cash-on-cash and compresses DSCR at the same time, which is why lenders watch the DSCR and investors watch both. On the tax side, the loan interest is generally deductible as a rental expense, which the mortgage interest deduction calculator breaks down in detail.
What competing calculators miss
Multifamily tools split into two camps, and each leaves half the job undone:
- Single-metric tools (Janover’s DSCR calculator at multifamily.loans): excellent lender-side education about underwriting NOI the lender’s way, but DSCR is all you get: no payment, no amortization, no cash flow, no cap rate. You do the rest in a spreadsheet.
- Mortgage-only tools (Mortgage-calculator.net’s commercial pages): amortization schedules and balloon modeling, but no rental income and no investment metrics at all. They are plain commercial mortgage calculators wearing a multifamily name.
- Institutional underwriters (DataDaur’s CRE calculator): the full metric set with itemized operating expenses and PDF/CSV export, but annual inputs only, no amortization schedule, and built for analysts rather than buyers screening a triplex.
- Debt-yield tools (ARVcalc): debt yield is a useful extra lens (NOI divided by loan amount) that this page does not compute, but it is one ratio in isolation, not a deal workup.
- Article explainers (Multifamily Insiders, Commercial Lending USA): current 2026 lender standards and clean worked examples, but no interactive tool behind them.
- The gap this page fills: both sides in one place: the full investor metric set (LTV, vacancy-adjusted income, expense stack, NOI, cash flow, cash-on-cash, DSCR, cap rate) plus the mortgage side the DSCR-only tools skip (amortization schedule, balloon balance, interest-only readout), with the DSCR verdict wired to the 1.20/1.25 lender thresholds.
Frequently asked questions
Most lenders want a DSCR of at least 1.20, meaning net operating income covers the mortgage payment 1.2 times over. Agency and bank lenders are most comfortable at 1.25 or higher; below 1.20 the loan is difficult to place. The calculator’s verdict badge scores your deal against exactly these levels.
Yes, on this calculator. Gross rent is reduced by your vacancy rate to get effective income before any expenses are subtracted. Many quick tools compute NOI on gross rent, which flatters the DSCR and the cap rate.
Cap rate divides annual NOI by the property value, so it ignores financing and is good for comparing properties. Cash-on-cash divides annual cash flow by your down payment, so it reflects leverage and shows what your invested cash actually earns. Use cap rate to compare deals, cash-on-cash to judge your return.
The monthly payment is computed as if the loan amortized over the full term (often 25 to 30 years), but the entire remaining balance comes due at the balloon date (often 5, 7 or 10 years). Enter the balloon term above to see that balance. The CFPB treats balloon payments as a risky loan feature, so plan your refinance or sale well before the due date.
The PITI figure does: principal and interest plus one-twelfth of annual property tax and insurance. Taxes and insurance also sit inside operating expenses for the NOI calculation, since an owner pays them either way. They are not double-counted in the DSCR’s debt service, which uses principal and interest only.
Targets vary by market, but 8 to 12% is a common underwriting goal for stabilized properties. The worked example lands at 8.63%. Compare it against your other investment options, and remember it moves with interest rates, purchase price and how much cash you put down.
Because lenders underwrite with a management fee whether or not you manage the building yourself, typically 8 to 10% of effective income. Leaving it at zero makes the DSCR look better than the number your lender will actually use.
The loan is treated as fully amortizing: the balance reaches zero at the end of the amortization term and no balloon row appears. The amortization schedule then runs the full 15, 20, 25 or 30 years.
For a rental property, mortgage interest is generally deductible as a rental expense on Schedule E, along with taxes, insurance, maintenance and depreciation, per IRS Publication 527. Tax rules change, so confirm your situation with a tax professional.
Yes. Anything from a duplex up works: enter the combined rent for all units. Two-to-four-unit properties can often use residential-style 30-year financing instead of commercial balloon loans.
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References
- Fannie Mae. Affordable Housing Preservation Term Sheet (minimum DSCR 1.20x, maximum LTV 80%). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Freddie Mac. Multifamily (agency multifamily lending products). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Multifamily Housing. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Descriptions of Multifamily Programs. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. Publication 527 (2025), Residential Rental Property (deductible rental expenses). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau. Housing Vacancies and Homeownership (quarterly rental vacancy rates). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Urban Institute. Housing Finance Policy Center. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What is a Qualified Mortgage? (balloon payments as a risky loan feature). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute. 12 CFR § 1026.43, Minimum standards for transactions secured by a dwelling (balloon payment definition, ability-to-repay). Accessed October 23, 2026.