Plan your path to homeownership by calculating your required down payment. See how long it will take to save based on your current savings, monthly contributions, and savings rate.
The down payment is the cash you bring to closing — the slice of the purchase price you pay up front instead of borrowing. Everything else flows from this number: your loan amount, your monthly payment, whether you owe private mortgage insurance, and which loan programs you even qualify for.
This calculator answers two questions at once. First, how much cash do you actually need to hit a given percentage of the home price? Second, given what you already have saved and what you can put away each month, how long until you get there?
It uses standard future-value math — your current savings compound at the APY you enter, and your monthly contributions are added each month and compound on top — to project the month you'll cross the down-payment threshold. The result is a planning estimate; treat it as a target date, not a guarantee.
Target: $400,000 × 20% = $80,000 Current savings: $10,000 Monthly savings: $1,500 APY: 4.5% Months to reach goal: about 41 months (3 years, 5 months) Of the $80,000, roughly $74,500 comes from contributions and $5,500 from interest.
Target: $400,000 × 3.5% = $14,000 Current savings: $10,000 Monthly savings: $1,500 APY: 4.5% Months to reach goal: about 3 months — almost immediate. Trade-off: FHA loans require Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP) for the life of the loan in most cases. Buying $90,000 of house with less cash on hand means paying MIP for decades. Calculate the lifetime cost before choosing the smaller down payment.
Target: $80,000 (20% on $400,000) Scenario A: $1,000/mo at 4.5% APY → 70 months Scenario B: $1,500/mo at 4.5% APY → 48 months Scenario C: $1,000/mo at 0.5% APY (low-yield account) → 80 months Moving from a 0.5% checking account to a 4.5% high-yield account shaves about 10 months. Adding $500/mo to contributions shaves about 22 months. Contribution amount matters more than rate at this time horizon.
Use this calculator early in the home-buying journey — before you talk to a lender, before you pick a neighborhood, ideally before you even know which city you'll buy in. Knowing the target dollar amount and a realistic save-by date is what turns "someday" into a budget line item.
The output is most useful when paired with two other tools: the home affordability calculator to confirm the target home price is one you'd actually qualify for given your income and debt, and the mortgage payment calculator to confirm the monthly payment at that price and down-payment combo fits your budget.
The output is least useful for predicting market conditions. It assumes the home price stays flat while you save. In a market where home prices are rising 5%+ per year, the target moves up while you save — so consider running the calculator with the home price inflated to a realistic future value, not today's listing.
Calculate your monthly mortgage payment including principal, interest, taxes, and insurance.
Find out how much house you can afford based on your income, debts, and down payment.
Find out how much to save each month to reach your financial goal.
See how biweekly payments save you time and interest on your mortgage.
Estimate how much you could receive from a reverse mortgage based on your home value and age.
Calculate monthly payments and the balloon payment due at the end of your loan term.
Down Payment Needed
$70,000
Still Need to Save
$55,000
Months to Goal
48
Interest Earned
$7,436
| Month | Contribution | Interest | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000.00 | $56.25 | $16,056.25 |
| 6 | $1,000.00 | $76.20 | $21,397.21 |
| 12 | $1,000.00 | $100.65 | $27,939.72 |
| 18 | $1,000.00 | $125.64 | $34,630.82 |
| 24 | $1,000.00 | $151.21 | $41,473.88 |
| 30 | $1,000.00 | $177.36 | $48,472.37 |
| 36 | $1,000.00 | $204.10 | $55,629.81 |
| 42 | $1,000.00 | $231.44 | $62,949.80 |
| 48 | $1,000.00 | $259.41 | $70,000.00 |