How Much Property Can I Afford?
Work out the honest property budget for your income and savings, including down payment, stamp duty and registration. Built for Indian buyers.
Most affordability advice stops at the loan. In India the gap between the loan and the cheque you actually write is large: a down payment of 10–25%, stamp duty and registration of 5–8%, and then registration of the sale deed, legal checks, brokerage and whatever the flat needs before you can live in it.
This calculator starts from both ends — what your income can service each month, and what your savings can put down today — and reports the lower of the two. That is your real budget.
The two ceilings
Income ceiling. Half your net income, minus existing EMIs, is the EMI you can carry. Converted to a loan and grossed up for a 20% down payment, that is the most expensive property your salary supports.
Savings ceiling. Your cash has to cover the down payment and the stamp duty and registration, because no lender funds those. If P is the property price, you need P × (0.20 + duty rate) in hand.
A worked example
₹1,20,000 income, no other EMIs, ₹20,00,000 saved, 8.5% for 20 years, 7% duty in Maharashtra. Income supports an EMI of ₹60,000 → about ₹69 lakh of loan → an ₹86 lakh property. But ₹20 lakh of savings only covers 27% of a property (20% down + 7% duty), which caps you at about ₹74 lakh. Savings are the binding constraint, and the honest budget is ₹74 lakh — not ₹86 lakh.
Costs this deliberately leaves out
- Brokerage, typically 1–2% where a broker is involved
- Legal verification and society transfer charges
- GST at 1% or 5% if the property is under construction
- Interiors, which routinely run 10–20% of the property value
- An emergency fund — do not spend your last rupee on the down payment
What you can afford on your salary
Assuming half your net monthly income can go to an EMI, a 20-year loan at 8.5%, and a loan of 80% of the property value. The last column is the part people underestimate: the deposit and the duty are payable in cash and cannot be borrowed.
| Net monthly income | EMI you can carry | Loan you get | Property you can buy | Cash needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ₹30,000 | ₹15,000 | ₹17.28 L | ₹21.61 L | ₹5.83 L |
| ₹40,000 | ₹20,000 | ₹23.05 L | ₹28.81 L | ₹7.78 L |
| ₹50,000 | ₹25,000 | ₹28.81 L | ₹36.01 L | ₹9.72 L |
| ₹75,000 | ₹37,500 | ₹43.21 L | ₹54.01 L | ₹14.58 L |
| ₹1,00,000 | ₹50,000 | ₹57.62 L | ₹72.02 L | ₹19.45 L |
| ₹1,25,000 | ₹62,500 | ₹72.02 L | ₹90.02 L | ₹24.31 L |
| ₹1,50,000 | ₹75,000 | ₹86.42 L | ₹1.08 Cr | ₹29.17 L |
| ₹2,00,000 | ₹1,00,000 | ₹1.15 Cr | ₹1.44 Cr | ₹38.89 L |
| ₹3,00,000 | ₹1,50,000 | ₹1.73 Cr | ₹2.16 Cr | ₹58.34 L |
An existing car loan or card balance comes out of the same half and reduces every row. Cash needed is the 20% down payment plus duty and registration estimated at 7% — it ranges from about 5% to 9% by state, and several states charge less for a woman buyer.
Turn a calculation into an enquiry
Buyers who run these numbers are ready to talk. Give every listing its own page with your photo, phone and WhatsApp on it — leads land straight on your phone.
Create your free property pageFrequently asked questions
What is the 3x income rule?
A common thumb rule says keep the property price under three to five times annual household income. It is a useful sanity check but ignores your savings and existing debt, which is why this calculator models both explicitly.
Should I use my entire savings on the down payment?
No. Keep at least six months of expenses plus the EMI aside. Buyers who empty their savings on the down payment often end up funding interiors on a personal loan at 14–18%, which undoes the benefit of the cheap home loan.
Is a bigger down payment always better?
It lowers your interest, but a home loan at 8.5% with Section 24 and 80C tax relief is among the cheapest money you can borrow. If you have higher-return uses for the cash — or expensive debt to clear first — a 20% down payment is defensible.
Does this include GST?
No. GST applies only to under-construction property: 1% for affordable housing and 5% otherwise, with no input tax credit. Ready-to-move property with a completion certificate has no GST. See the GST calculator.
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