You’re usually approved for a home loan somewhere between 3–5 times your gross annual income, but the real number depends heavily on your debts, credit score, down payment, and loan type. Lenders don’t just ask “how much house?”—they ask “how much monthly payment can you safely carry?” and then back into a max loan from there.

Key factors lenders look at

  • Income: Stable, documentable income (W‑2, 1099, salary, or self‑employed) is the starting point for how much you could get approved for. Bigger, more stable income usually means higher approval limits.
  • Debts: Lenders calculate your debt‑to‑income (DTI) ratio by comparing your monthly debts (credit cards, car loans, student loans, etc.) to your gross monthly income. Higher debts shrink how much home loan you can qualify for.

Typical approval ranges

  • Many banks like your total house payment (principal, interest, taxes, insurance) to be around 25–28% of your gross monthly income. Total debts plus that house payment often need to stay under about 36–43%, depending on the loan program.
  • Rough rule of thumb:
    • Low debts + good credit: often around 4–5× your gross annual income.
* Higher debts or weaker credit: closer to 3–4× income, sometimes less.

Credit score and loan type

  • Credit score: Conventional loans tend to want scores around the mid‑600s and above for smoother approval and better rates; FHA and some government‑backed options may allow scores in the 500s but with stricter terms and higher costs.
  • Loan program: FHA, VA, USDA, and conventional loans each have different flexibility on DTI, credit score, and down payment, which changes how big an approval you might get.

Down payment & interest rate

  • A larger down payment can:
    • Reduce or remove mortgage insurance.
    • Lower your monthly payment, which can boost the maximum loan you qualify for.
  • A lower interest rate reduces the monthly payment for a given loan size, effectively increasing how much you can be approved for without breaking the DTI limits.

How to get a realistic number

  • Use a reputable online “how much can I borrow” or “affordability” calculator and plug in:
    • Gross monthly income.
    • Monthly debts.
    • Estimated down payment and interest rate.
  • Then, for an actual approval figure, a formal pre‑approval from a lender (or two) is needed, since each lender’s rules and risk appetite are slightly different.

If you share your income, monthly debts, approximate credit score, and down payment, a rough ballpark can be sketched out for what you might get approved for (not as a guarantee, but as a realistic range).

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.