Down Payment Calculator
Calculate how much you need for a down payment and how long it will take to save. See how different down payment percentages affect your loan.
A down payment is simply Home Price multiplied by the percentage you choose to put down, and the loan amount is whatever is left over -- put 20% down on a $400,000 home and you need $80,000 up front against a $320,000 mortgage. That 20% threshold isn't arbitrary: this calculator flags Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) as required on any conventional loan below it, since lenders typically require PMI to protect themselves against the smaller equity cushion a lower down payment leaves them with. PMI is modeled here as roughly 0.5% of the loan amount annually, split into a monthly figure -- an approximation, since real PMI rates vary by lender, credit score, and loan program, typically landing somewhere between 0.3% and 1.5% a year. Months to Goal projects how long it will take to close the gap between Current Savings and the down payment target, given a Monthly Savings rate compounding at the Savings APY you enter -- the same math used elsewhere on this site for any savings goal. The four-way comparison chart (5%, 10%, 15%, 20% down) exists because the percentage you choose has two competing effects that pull in opposite directions: a smaller down payment gets you into a home faster and ties up less cash, but it means a larger loan, a bigger PMI bill, and more interest paid over the life of the mortgage. This calculator does not model interest rates, monthly mortgage payments, property taxes, or closing costs -- it isolates the down payment and savings-timeline question specifically.
Financial Disclaimer
This calculator is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Results are estimates based on the inputs provided. Consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment or financial planning decisions.
Inputs
Results
Down Payment Needed
$80,000.00
≈ 7 years of state college
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter the home price you are targeting.
- Set the down payment percentage — 20% avoids PMI; some loans allow 3-5%.
- Enter your current savings toward the down payment.
- Set how much you can save per month toward this goal.
- Review the down payment needed, loan amount, months to goal, and whether PMI will be required.
How the result changes with Home Price
| Home Price | Down Payment Needed |
|---|---|
| $545,000.00 | $109,000.00 |
| $1,782,500.00 | $356,500.00 |
| $3,267,500.00 | $653,500.00 |
| $4,505,000.00 | $901,000.00 |
What each input means
- Current Savings
- Amount currently saved.
- Savings APY
- Annual interest rate on the account holding this fund.
What each result means
- Months to Goal
- 600 months is a placeholder meaning the goal is not being approached at the current savings rate.
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters4 parametersHome Price = 400000, Down Payment = 20, Current Savings = 30000, Monthly Savings = 1500 = 5 input(s) provided
- Calculate Down Payment NeededDown Payment Needed80000 = $80,000
- Calculate Loan AmountLoan Amount320000 = $320,000
- Calculate Still Need to SaveStill Need to Save50000 = $50,000
Engine last updated . Checked against 1 independently-derived test — how we verify calculators.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does a 20% down payment matter so much?
20% is the conventional-loan threshold below which lenders typically require Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI), an extra monthly cost that protects the lender, not you, in case of default. Putting down less than 20% doesn't disqualify you from a mortgage -- plenty of loan programs allow 3-5% down -- but this calculator will flag PMI as required and estimate its monthly cost whenever your chosen percentage falls below that line.
How is the estimated PMI cost calculated?
This calculator estimates PMI at roughly 0.5% of the loan amount per year, divided into a monthly figure, whenever the down payment is below 20%. Real PMI rates vary meaningfully by lender, loan program, and your credit profile -- commonly ranging from about 0.3% to 1.5% annually -- so treat the figure shown here as a rough planning estimate, not a quote, and confirm the actual rate with your lender.
Does a higher savings APY get me to my down payment faster?
Only marginally, in most realistic cases. Interest compounding needs a meaningful balance and a long stretch of time to produce a visible effect, and most down-payment savings timelines are too short and the account too modest early on for the interest rate to matter much. The dominant lever for reaching the goal sooner is almost always how much you contribute monthly, not the yield on the account holding the money.
What's the tradeoff between a smaller and larger down payment?
A smaller down payment gets you into a home sooner and preserves cash for other needs, but it directly increases the loan amount -- and below 20%, it also adds a PMI cost on top of the mortgage payment itself. A larger down payment reduces the loan amount dollar for dollar and can eliminate PMI entirely, at the cost of taking longer to save and tying up more cash in the property rather than keeping it liquid.
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