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Housing Affordability Calculator

Estimate how much home you may be able to afford based on your income, expenses, down payment, interest rate, and other financial factors. Choose between the income-based and budget-based calculators, then enter your information and select Calculate to view your estimate. Review the results to better understand how your finances may affect your home-buying budget. You can also explore qualification factors and housing affordability trends for additional guidance.

This is our housing affordability calculator. It helps estimate how much home you can afford based on your income, expenses, and financial assumptions. You can view a clear breakdown of affordability and print or download the results for easy reference.

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Debt-to-Income Ratios Are Guidelines

The conventional 28/36 rule is commonly used as a general planning guideline, but these percentages are not universal mortgage qualification limits. Acceptable debt-to-income ratios can vary by loan program, lender requirements, automated underwriting findings, borrower profile, and other factors.

What Can Change Your Affordability?

Your estimated home-buying budget can change even when your income stays the same. Housing expenses and other monthly obligations can affect the amount that may fit within your budget.

Property Taxes

Property taxes vary by property and location. Higher property taxes increase the estimated monthly housing expense and may reduce the home price that fits within your budget.

Homeowners Insurance

Homeowners insurance costs vary based on the property, location, coverage, and insurer. A higher insurance cost increases the estimated monthly housing payment.

HOA Dues

Monthly homeowners association or similar dues can become part of your housing expense. Higher dues can reduce the amount available for principal and interest within the same monthly budget.

Try Different Scenarios

Adjust the property tax, homeowners insurance, HOA dues, interest rate, monthly debts, and other inputs in the calculator to see how changes in these expenses affect your estimated affordability. Calculator results are for planning purposes and do not represent a loan approval, preapproval, prequalification, or underwriting decision.

Learn More About Qualification

Your estimated affordability is only a starting point. Learn more about the factors used to evaluate your purchase qualification, or review Fannie Mae’s guidance on debt-to-income (DTI) ratios.

Housing Affordability Index (Fixed)

Nov 2025: 108.4

Updated: Jan 16, 2026 9:43 AM CST

Units:

Index,

Not Seasonally Adjusted

Frequency:

Monthly

Housing Affordability Index (Fixed)

Notes

Units: Index

Frequency: Monthly

Seasonal Adjustment: Not Seasonally Adjusted

The fixed rate for the Housing Affordability Index assumes a down payment of 20 percent of the home price and a qualifying ratio of 25 percent. A value of 100 means that a family with the median income has exactly enough income to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home.

Understanding Your Affordability Estimate

This calculator is an educational planning tool designed to help you estimate a potential home-buying budget based on the information you enter. The result is not a mortgage preapproval, loan approval, underwriting decision, or guarantee that you will qualify for a particular loan amount.

Actual mortgage qualification depends on additional factors reviewed by a lender, including your verified income, debts, credit history, assets, property details, loan program requirements, and debt-to-income ratio (DTI). Your actual approved loan amount and monthly payment may be higher or lower than the calculator estimate.

Take the Next Step

Once you have an estimated home-buying budget, the next step is to understand how mortgage qualification works. Review our Purchase Qualification resource to learn more about the financial information considered when evaluating your mortgage options.

 

For a closer look at the monthly payment for a specific home price, use our Mortgage Payment Calculator.

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