Mortgage Calculator

What this tool does

The Mortgage Calculator estimates the complete monthly housing payment for a fixed-rate home loan, not just principal and interest. It adds property tax, homeowners insurance, private mortgage insurance when the down payment is under 20% and HOA or maintenance fees, and builds a yearly schedule.

The headline rate on a mortgage only tells part of the story. Lenders and budgeting guides look at the full monthly housing cost, often called PITI: principal, interest, taxes and insurance, plus mortgage insurance and association fees where they apply. Two homes with the same price can have very different monthly costs once local property tax and insurance are added, so a realistic estimate needs every component.

This calculator finds the loan amount from the price and your down payment, computes principal and interest with the fixed-rate formula M = L·r·(1+r)^n ÷ ((1+r)^n − 1), and adds property tax as a yearly percentage of the price, insurance per year and fees per month. If you put down less than 20%, mortgage insurance is charged on the loan amount until the balance reaches 78% of the original price, the point at which US lenders must cancel it automatically for conventional loans. It works in any currency.

How to use Mortgage Calculator

1. Choose the currency and enter the home price.
2. Choose whether the down payment is a percentage or an amount, then enter it.
3. Enter the interest rate and pick the loan term, for example 30 or 15 years.
4. Enter the property tax rate, annual home insurance and the mortgage insurance rate used by your lender.
5. Add HOA, service charge or maintenance fees per month if the property has them.
6. Review the total monthly payment, its breakdown chart and the yearly schedule, and export the schedule as CSV.

Tips for better results

• Compare a 15-year and a 30-year term: the shorter term has a higher payment but usually cuts total interest by more than half.
• Reaching a 20% down payment removes mortgage insurance from day one, which can be worth more than a small rate discount.
• Look up the actual property tax rate for the town or county; it can range from well under 1% to over 2% of value per year.
• Keep the total housing payment within roughly 28% of gross monthly income, a common lender guideline.

Common use cases

• Setting a realistic price range before house hunting.
• Comparing two properties with different tax rates or HOA fees.
• Checking how much a larger down payment lowers the monthly cost.
• Estimating the payment on a remortgage or refinance at a new rate.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Budgeting on principal and interest only and being surprised by tax and insurance in the escrow payment.
• Leaving out closing costs and moving costs, which are paid upfront and are not part of this monthly figure.
• Assuming an adjustable-rate mortgage keeps its starter rate; this tool models a fixed rate for the full term.