Guide · 6 tools
Mortgages and home buying
Work out what you can borrow, what a mortgage costs each month and over its life, and every bill between an offer and the keys: deposit, stamp duty, buying costs, insurance and the sale of your current home.
Buying a home is a chain of numbers that lenders, agents and solicitors each hold a piece of. These calculators put the whole chain in one place so you can see how a bigger deposit, a shorter term or a fee-free rate changes the total, not just the monthly payment.
Every tool here is country-aware: choose the United States, United Kingdom, Canada or Australia and the stamp duty bands, mortgage insurance rules and buying-cost defaults follow. Figures are estimates for comparison; your lender’s offer is the number that counts.
1 / 2
How much can you borrow and afford
Start with income, deposit and outgoings before you look at listings.
2 / 2
What the mortgage costs
Monthly payment, interest over the term and the ways to cut both.
Common questions
Mortgages and home buying: the questions people ask
- How much deposit do I need to buy a home?
- Most lenders want at least 5–10% of the price; below 20% you pay for mortgage insurance in the US, Canada and Australia or a higher rate in the UK. The house deposit saver shows how long a target deposit takes to save and what first-home schemes add.
- What is stamp duty and how much is it?
- A tax on buying property, charged in bands on the price. It is called SDLT in England, LBTT in Scotland, LTT in Wales, transfer duty in Australia and land transfer tax in Canada; most US states charge a transfer tax instead. The stamp duty calculator has every region’s bands and first-time buyer relief.
- Is paying a mortgage biweekly worth it?
- Paying half the monthly amount every two weeks makes 13 monthly payments a year instead of 12, so a 30-year loan clears in about 25 and saves a large share of the interest. Any overpayment of the same size does the same thing.
Results are estimates based on the figures entered, for general information only, and not financial, investment, tax or legal advice.