Estimate your monthly mortgage payment, total interest, total payments, and loan cost from your home price, down payment, interest rate, and loan term.
Calculate Your Mortgage Payment
Mortgage Estimate
| Year | Starting Balance | Principal Paid | Interest Paid | Ending Balance |
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What Is a Mortgage Calculator?
A mortgage calculator estimates the cost of borrowing money to buy a home. Enter the home price, down payment, interest rate, and loan term to estimate the monthly principal and interest payment.
You can also enter annual property taxes, annual home insurance, and other monthly costs for a broader estimate of the monthly housing payment.
How Mortgage Payments Are Calculated
A fixed-rate mortgage payment uses the loan amount, monthly interest rate, and number of monthly payments.
In this formula, M represents the monthly principal and interest payment. P represents the loan principal. r represents the monthly interest rate. n represents the total number of monthly payments.
The calculator then adds monthly property tax, home insurance, and other monthly costs entered by the user.
What Information Do You Need?
- Home purchase price
- Down payment
- Annual mortgage interest rate
- Loan term
- Annual property tax, if known
- Annual home insurance, if known
- Other recurring monthly housing costs, if applicable
How the Down Payment Affects Your Mortgage
Your down payment reduces the amount you need to borrow. For example, a $300,000 home with a $60,000 down payment leaves a $240,000 mortgage principal before other financing adjustments.
A larger down payment also reduces the balance on which interest accrues. Mortgage requirements vary by lender and loan program, so review the terms attached to the specific mortgage you are considering.
Mortgage Interest and Loan Term
The loan term affects both the monthly payment and the total interest paid over the life of the mortgage.
A shorter loan term generally produces a higher scheduled principal-and-interest payment because the balance is repaid over fewer months. A longer term spreads repayment across more months.
The calculator displays total interest so you can see how the selected rate and term affect the overall borrowing cost.
What Is Included in a Mortgage Payment?
A basic mortgage payment consists of principal and interest. Homeowners often also pay property taxes and homeowners insurance, either directly or through an escrow account.
Other costs might include mortgage insurance, homeowners association dues, flood insurance, or lender-specific charges. The calculator includes an optional field for other monthly costs, but it does not automatically estimate every possible mortgage expense.
Mortgage Amortization
Amortization describes how each scheduled payment reduces the mortgage balance over time.
For a typical fixed-rate mortgage, each payment includes both principal and interest. Early payments often allocate more money toward interest because interest is calculated against a larger outstanding balance. As the balance falls, the interest portion falls as well.
The yearly amortization table above provides an estimate of how the principal and interest portions change during the loan term.
Frequently Asked Questions
A mortgage calculator provides an estimate based on the numbers entered. Your actual payment depends on the lender's rate, loan terms, fees, taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance, and other costs.
This calculator includes property taxes when you enter an annual property tax amount. The calculator divides the annual amount by 12 and adds the result to the monthly estimate.
Yes. Enter your annual home insurance cost and the calculator divides the amount by 12 for the monthly estimate.
The down payment reduces the amount borrowed. A lower loan balance means less principal is subject to mortgage interest.
Mortgage amortization is the scheduled repayment of a loan through regular payments of principal and interest over the selected loan term.
No. Mortgage insurance is not calculated automatically. If you know the expected monthly cost, enter the amount under Other Monthly Costs.