Home affordability calculator

How much house can I afford?

As much loan as your monthly payment can carry, plus your equity, minus the closing costs. The calculator derives the maximum purchase price from that. With the example values (€870 payment, 4.5% interest, 25 years, €10,000 equity) it comes to about €147,365.

The calculator sets the affordable payment like this: current rent including utilities, plus additional disposable income, minus the operating costs of the new property. The assumption behind it is that in your own home you can pay each month what you pay in rent today, plus whatever is left over beyond that.

How do you get from a monthly payment to a purchase price?

In two steps. First the loan amount that the payment repays in full over the loan term: loan = payment × (1 − (1 + i)^−n) ÷ i, where i is the monthly interest rate (annual rate ÷ 12) and n the number of months. Then the purchase price: (loan + equity) ÷ (1 + closing cost rate).

The closing cost rate is the sum of agent commission, notary & land register and the transfer tax rate. If you enter a postcode, the calculator sets the transfer tax rate of that federal state.

The calculator assumes the loan is fully repaid at the end of the loan term. A longer term or a lower interest rate raises the loan amount, a shorter term or a higher rate lowers it.

Is my equity enough to buy a house?

The calculator shows your equity as a share of the total cost of purchase price plus closing costs. If the share is below 25%, a warning appears, because the purchase may then be hard to finance. In the example it is 6.0%.

Closing costs add nothing to the value of the property. If you finance them as well, the loan is larger than the purchase price. In the example, about €19,157 of closing costs stand against €10,000 of equity.

The result is an upper limit under this calculation, not a financing offer. Reserves for maintenance and a higher interest rate after the fixed-rate period are not included.