Qualifying Mortgage Calculator 

How much house can you qualify for? Enter your annual income, monthly debts, down payment, rate and term: the tool applies the lender’s 28/36 rule, shows which ratio binds, and converts the max payment into a max loan and max home price.

Quick Answer

With $100,000 income, $500/mo debts, $60,000 down, 6.8% for 30 years and $400/mo taxes and insurance, you qualify for a $2,333.33/mo housing payment, bound by the 28% front-end ratio. That supports a $296,557.55 loan, or a $356,557.55 home price. Enter your numbers above to find your ceiling.

Worked example, checked against this exact tool

$100,000 income, $500/mo debts, $60,000 down, 6.8% for 30 years, $400/mo taxes and insurance: max housing payment $2,333.33/mo, bound by the front-end (28%) ratio. After taxes and insurance, $1,933.33/mo of principal and interest supports a $296,557.55 loan: max home price $356,557.55.

The formula

Front-end limit = monthly income x 28%. Back-end room = monthly income x 36% minus monthly debts. Max housing payment = the smaller of the two (PITI: principal, interest, taxes, insurance). Max loan = principal and interest x (1 minus (1 + r) to the power minus n) divided by r. Max price = loan + down payment.

Which ratio binds?

With little debt, the 28% front-end ratio binds: your housing is capped at 28% of income. With heavy car, student or card payments, the 36% back-end ratio binds instead: every $500/mo of debt erases roughly $100,000 of home price. Paying down debt before applying is often the highest-return move in homebuying. To see exactly where your own numbers land, try our debt-to-income ratio calculator.

What each income level qualifies for

The table below runs the tool itself at five incomes, holding everything else at the worked example (no other debts, $60,000 down, 6.8% for 30 years, $400/mo taxes and insurance). With no other debts the front-end ratio binds at every income shown, so each row is a pure 28% calculation:

Qualification is not comfort

Lenders approve the maximum the ratios allow; planners often suggest capping housing at 25% of take-home pay instead. A 28%-of-gross payment can feel tight once maintenance (1-2% of value yearly), utilities and life are added. Use the qualifying figure as a ceiling, not a target. Once you have your ceiling, our mortgage allowance calculator checks whether that payment still leaves room for the rest of your budget. And to budget the cash you will need at closing beyond the down payment, use our home buyer cost calculator.

DTI limits vary by loan type

Conventional loans typically cap total DTI around 43-50%, FHA up to about 50-57%, VA and USDA in the low 40s. Credit score, reserves and loan program shift the real number: this tool uses the classic 28/36 benchmark every lender understands. Loans that meet the federal Qualified Mortgage definition give lenders a legal presumption that they satisfied the ability-to-repay rule. The definition caps points and fees and bars risky features like negative amortization and interest-only payments, a framework industry groups have analyzed for its effect on credit availability.

If the ratios say no: three levers that move the answer

A “you qualify for less than you need” result is a starting point, not a verdict. Three changes move the numbers, and they work through different ratios:

Pay down monthly debts. This attacks the back-end ratio directly: every dollar of monthly debt you eliminate frees a dollar of housing room under the 36% cap. If the back-end ratio is what binds you, killing a $500/mo car payment can lift the max home price by roughly $75,000 to $100,000 depending on the rate.

Raise the down payment. This works no matter which ratio binds, because max price equals loan plus down payment: every extra dollar down is a dollar of price. Crossing 20% down also removes PMI, which effectively lowers the monthly housing cost lenders count.

Lower the rate you qualify for. A better credit score can mean a lower rate, and a lower rate stretches the same monthly payment into a bigger loan. This is the slowest lever, but for buyers a year out, it is often the highest-value one. Run the tool twice, once with the debt paid off and once with the bigger down payment, to see which lever buys you more house for your situation.

Itemize your debts before trusting the back-end ratio

The back-end ratio is only as honest as the debt list behind it. A single monthly-debts figure hides which debts you could eliminate: a $380 car payment, a $290 student loan, and an $85 card minimum total $755, but paying off the card next month drops the figure to $670 and raises the back-end limit by the same $85. As a rule of thumb, every $500 a month of debt erases roughly $100,000 of home price at typical rates. Lenders pull the minimum payments from your credit report, so use those figures rather than what you actually pay; a card with a zero balance and no minimum does not count against you. List each debt separately on paper, then test the paydown scenarios one at a time in the tool.

What competing calculators miss

Most affordability tools print one payment number and stop. This page names the binding constraint, shows both ratio limits side by side, and converts the payment into a loan and a home price: the three numbers a buyer actually shops with. It also reports the resulting DTI percentages, so you can see how close to each cap you land: on the worked example the housing ratio comes out at 28.0% and the total ratio at 34.0%, which tells you at a glance that the front-end cap, not your other debts, is what limits you.

Frequently asked questions

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