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How much can I borrow?

The property budget a monthly payment buys, or the payment for a property you have in mind — insurance, transfer duties and deposit included, against the 35% cap your bank applies.

What are you looking for?
Your project

Insurance included — that is how the bank counts it

Banks generally expect enough to cover the transfer duties

Mostly transfer taxes: 7 to 8% on an older property, 2 to 3% on a new build

Excluding insurance — the rate the bank advertises

As a share of the capital borrowed, per year — 0.10 to 0.50% depending on age

25 years at most, unless a deferral on a new build

Your situation — for the 35% cap

Before tax, bonuses included — leave at zero to ignore the 35% cap

Car, consumer, another mortgage: their payments count towards the cap

Your figures are never transmitted: the calculation runs on your device. Only anonymous audience measurement (page view, click) is recorded, with no figures at all.

Enter a monthly payment and a term to see your budget.

Property budget

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The property budget your monthly payment buys, transfer duties included.

Capital borrowed

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Total monthly payment

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Your effort rate, and what the 35% cap allows.

A calculation, not a loan offer — the assumptions are set out in the FAQ.

Free, no card required, no connection to your bank accounts.

The guide

What the bank actually looks at

Before viewing anything, the right question is not “what does this property cost?” but “how much can I borrow?”. It is worked out backwards: from a payment you can carry to a capital, then from the capital to a budget — because what you buy is the price PLUS the transfer duties, less your deposit.

Since January 2022 the HCSF recommendation has been binding: the [effort rate](debtRatio) may not exceed 35% of net income, INSURANCE INCLUDED, and the term may not exceed 25 years. A bank may depart from it, but on only 20% of its quarterly lending, largely reserved for first-time buyers of a main home. A simulator that ignores that cap announces capacities nobody will fund.

Loan insurance is the item people forget and it weighs. At 0.34% on €250,000 it costs €71 a month for twenty years, so €17,000 — and it counts towards the 35%. Since the Lemoine law of 2022 it can be cancelled at any time: it is the simplest lever for cutting a payment already signed.

effort rate
The share of your net income taken by loan repayments, insurance included, across all loans. It is the first figure a bank looks at.
loan insurance
The death and disability cover the bank requires. A group policy charges it on the initial capital; an external policy often charges it on the outstanding balance, and costs less.
transfer duties
Loosely called notary fees: they are mostly transfer taxes paid to the State and local authorities. 7 to 8% of the price on an older property, 2 to 3% on a new build.
HCSF
France's Haut Conseil de Stabilité Financière. Its 2021 recommendation, binding since January 2022, caps the effort rate at 35% and the term at 25 years. A bank may depart from it on 20% of its quarterly lending.

How to read the result

  1. The budget, not the capital

    The headline figure is the property price you can aim at, transfer duties and deposit included. That is the one you use in front of a listing; the capital borrowed compares to nothing.

  2. The payment, insurance included

    It is the one the bank counts towards the 35%, and the one that leaves your account. A simulator showing the payment without insurance understates your effort by 5 to 10%.

  3. The effort rate

    Enter your net income and existing loans: the tool says whether your bank will follow, and if not, what payment and what capital it will accept. That is the difference between a simulation and a hope.

  4. The cost of credit

    The bar shows what you repay on top of the capital: interest and insurance. A longer term lowers the payment and raises that cost — change the term and you see both at once.

A borrowing capacity is not a loan offer. The bank also looks at what you have left to live on once the payment is made, how stable your income is, what savings remain after the deposit, and the jump between your current rent and the future payment. See also what a rented property returns and [how to place this project in your wealth](netWorth).

A purchase is weighed against everything else you own

A borrowing capacity says nothing about what is left afterwards. Patrice tracks your income, your existing loans and your savings, works out your real effort rate, and projects what the purchase changes over ten years. The account is free; the demo shows the app with sample data.

Create my free accountSee the demo

Free, no card required, no connection to your bank accounts.

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Frequently asked questions

No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser, on your device: no figure is sent to a server, and nothing is kept once you close the tab — except, on this device only, the values you typed, so that switching language does not empty the form.

From the recommendation of France's Haut Conseil de Stabilité Financière, legally binding on banks since January 2022. It caps the effort rate at 35% of net income, insurance included, and the term at 25 years — 27 with a deferral on a new build. Banks keep a 20% margin of their quarterly lending to depart from it.

Because the bank counts it that way, and because it leaves your account every month. It is the most common gap between a simulator and a loan offer: at 0.34% on €250,000, insurance adds €71 a month, which can move a file from a 34% to a 36% effort rate.

On the initial capital, as most bank group policies do: the premium is then flat over the whole term. An external policy often charges on the outstanding balance, so it tapers, and costs considerably less. This simulator takes the most common — and therefore the most prudent — assumption.

Mostly transfer taxes paid to the State and local authorities, plus the notary's own fee, which is only a small part. Allow 7 to 8% of the price on an older property and 2 to 3% on a new build. They are rarely financed by the loan: that is what the deposit is for first.

No rule requires one, but bank practice expects enough to cover at least the transfer duties, around 10% of the price on an older property. A larger deposit cuts the capital borrowed, so the payment and the effort rate — and improves the rate you are offered.

No. The bank also looks at what you have left to live on once the payment is made, how stable your income is, your savings after the deposit, the jump from your current rent, and the nature of the property. This calculation says whether your project fits the numerical criteria, not whether your file will pass.