Mortgage Calculator

How the result is calculated

1. The monthly payment is an annuity: P × r / (1 − (1 + r)^−n), where P is the loan, r is the annual rate divided by 12 and n is the number of months.
2. Each month the interest is the remaining balance times r, and the rest of the payment reduces the balance.
3. When the rate changes after a fixed-rate period, the payment is recalculated from the remaining balance, the new rate and the remaining months.
4. An extra payment reduces the balance at once. You choose whether it shortens the term (the payment stays) or lowers the payment (the end date stays).
5. The comparison of offers adds the interest and the fees paid over the shortest fixed-rate period of the offers, because after it no one knows the rate. The stress test recalculates the payment for a rate that stays the same or rises by 1, 2 or 3 percentage points after the fixed period.

Assumptions and limits

• Banks round payments, count days in their own way and may add fees, insurance or a different rate after the fixed period, so their figures can differ slightly.
• The calculator does not know your bank's conditions, your credit standing or the rate you would really be offered.
• The starting rate is an average rate of new housing loans (from the central bank of the country, or a survey in the United States), not an offer. Your rate depends on the bank, the size of the loan against the value of the home and your income.
• Taxes, tax relief, state subsidies, property insurance and the costs of buying a home are not included.

The starting loan amount is a round example of a typical new mortgage, not a statistic. For a few countries the starting rate is a figure we know only from the press; the table below marks each one.

Data sources and the period they hold for

Every number a calculator starts with or computes from comes from one of the sources below. Series names are given as the publisher names them. Each row shows the period the data refer to and, where we record it, the day we downloaded them. Official data can be months old when they are published, so check the current figure before you decide.

Official

Published by a central bank, a statistical office, the European Union or another public body.

Research or industry data

A dataset of a university, an index provider, an industry association or a data vendor.

Reported

A figure of an official body that we know only from the press and did not check in the primary source. Treat it as approximate.

Example

A round number of ours, not a statistic. Replace it with your own.