Written and reviewed by Scott Spencer, Mortgage broker and CEO of Well Money.
Use our easy home loan calculator to estimate your mortgage repayments instantly. Get personalised insights and explore competitive rates so you've got no guesswork, just clear numbers.
Tap a rate above to see what a change would mean for you.
This calculator shows what a home loan would cost you, based on the amount you borrow, the interest rate, the loan term and any monthly fee.
You can see the repayment weekly, fortnightly or monthly, the total interest over the full term, and how your total payments split between the money you borrowed and the interest charged on it.
Change any input and the numbers update straight away, so you can see what actually moves the needle.Take a $600,000 loan at 6.00% over 30 years, paying principal and interest monthly. The repayment comes to about $3,597 a month. Over the full term you would pay around $1,295,000 in total, and roughly $695,000 of that is interest.
That figure surprises most people. It is not because 6.00% is a high rate. It is because a moderate rate applied to a large balance over thirty years adds up to more than the house cost in the first place. Seeing it written down is usually the point where the rate you are on starts to feel worth checking.
The rate buttons show you the same loan at a quarter and half a percent either side of the rate you entered. On that $600,000 loan, dropping the rate by 0.25% saves about $96 a month and around $34,500 over the term. Half a percent saves roughly $190 a month and close to $68,600.
Nothing else on this page moves your numbers as much for as little effort.
Home loan repayments use the amortisation formula, which sets a single repayment amount that pays the loan off exactly at the end of the term.
M = P × [ r(1 + r)ⁿ ] ÷ [ (1 + r)ⁿ − 1 ]
Where:
M is the repayment amount each period
P is the principal, the amount you borrow
r is the interest rate for one period, so the annual rate divided by the number of repayments in a year
n is the total number of repayments across the loan, so 360 for a 30 year loan paid monthly
Each repayment covers the interest that has built up since the last one, and whatever is left over comes off the balance. Because the balance falls a little every time, the interest portion shrinks and the principal portion grows, even though the repayment itself never changes. That is why the early years feel slow. On a $600,000 loan at 6.00%, the first repayment is about $3,597 and roughly $3,000 of it is interest. Only around $597 comes off what you owe.
Loan amount. The most direct lever. Every extra dollar borrowed carries interest for the life of the loan.
Interest rate. The one most people have the most room to move. A rate that was competitive three years ago may not be now, and lenders often price new customers better than existing ones.
Loan term. A shorter term means a higher repayment but far less interest overall. On that same loan, moving from 30 years to 25 lifts the repayment by roughly $270 a month and saves well over $100,000 in interest.
Repayment frequency. This is not a minor detail. There are 26 fortnights in a year, not 24, so paying half the monthly amount each fortnight means you make the equivalent of 13 monthly repayments a year instead of 12. On a $600,000 loan at 6.00% that could cut around five and a half years off the term and save close to $150,000. Check that your lender treats fortnightly as 26 true periods, because not all of them do.
Fees. A monthly account fee looks small next to the repayment, but over 30 years it adds up, and it is one of the reasons the cheapest advertised rate is not always the cheapest loan.
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It works out what your regular home loan repayment would be, based on the loan amount, the interest rate and the loan term you enter. It shows the repayment weekly, fortnightly or monthly, the total interest you would pay over the full term, and how much of your total payments goes to the principal versus the interest. You can also see what a slightly higher or lower rate would do to those numbers.
Three things. How much you want to borrow or currently owe, the interest rate, and how many years are left on the loan. If you are buying, the loan amount is the property price minus your deposit. If you already have a loan, use your current balance and the years remaining rather than the original figures, otherwise the result will not reflect where you actually are.
Start with the rate already filled in, which reflects a typical current variable rate for owner occupiers, then adjust it once you find your actual rate. Your rate is on your latest home loan statement or in your internet banking. It is worth checking rather than guessing, because a rate that is out by half a percent changes the repayment on a $600,000 loan by around $190 a month.
Small differences are normal and usually come down to three things. Lenders calculate interest daily and charge it monthly, while most calculators work in whole periods. Some lenders work out fortnightly repayments by splitting the monthly amount across about 48 weeks rather than a true 26 fortnights, which produces a different figure. And your lender may be including fees this calculator does not know about. Treat any calculator result as an estimate and your lender's figure as the real one.
It is accurate for what it measures, which is a standard principal and interest loan at a fixed rate for the whole term. It cannot predict rate changes, and it does not include every fee, government charge or lender specific quirk. Use it to compare scenarios and get a feel for the numbers. Use your lender's loan contract for the figure you can rely on.
No. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere, no credit check is performed, and no record of it exists. Credit scores are only affected when you formally apply for credit and a lender makes an enquiry. Running numbers on a calculator, comparing loans or speaking to a broker does none of that.
No. The calculator is free and open, and you can use it as many times as you like without entering a name, an email or a phone number. If you want a copy of your results emailed to you, you can ask for that, but it is optional and it happens after you already have your answer.
No. This calculator answers a different question. It tells you what a given loan amount would cost you each month. How much you can borrow depends on your income, your expenses, your existing debts, your credit history and the assessment rate each lender applies, and every lender assesses it differently. Two lenders can arrive at borrowing capacities tens of thousands of dollars apart on the same set of numbers. Speak to your Well Money broker to check your exact borrowing power.
A standard home loan repayment is worked out so that the loan is paid off exactly at the end of the term, with the same repayment amount each period. Every repayment covers the interest that has built up since the last one, and whatever is left over reduces the amount you owe. Because the balance falls over time, the interest portion shrinks and the principal portion grows, even though the repayment itself stays the same.
The principal is the money you borrowed. The interest is what the lender charges you for using it. On a principal and interest loan, each repayment covers both, so the debt gradually goes down. On an interest only loan, your repayment covers just the interest and the principal does not move, which means the loan balance is exactly the same at the end of the interest only period as it was at the start.
Because interest is charged on what you still owe, and at the start you owe almost the whole loan. On a $600,000 loan at 6.00%, the first monthly repayment is about $3,597 and roughly $3,000 of that is interest. Only about $597 comes off the balance. This surprises a lot of people, and it is the single biggest reason extra repayments in the early years have such an outsized effect.
Later than most people expect. On a $600,000 loan at 6.00% over 30 years, the principal portion of each repayment does not overtake the interest portion until somewhere around year 18 or 19. Shorter terms and lower rates bring that crossover forward. So does making extra repayments, because every dollar off the balance reduces the interest charged from that point on.
On most Australian home loans, interest is calculated daily on your closing balance and charged to the loan monthly. This is why the day your repayment lands can make a small difference, and why money sitting in an offset account reduces interest from the day it goes in. Calculators work in whole periods rather than daily, which is one reason the figures differ slightly from a lender's.
Yes, while the interest only period lasts, because you are not paying down any of the loan. The catch is what happens afterwards. Once the interest only period ends, you have the same balance to repay over fewer remaining years, so the repayment jumps, sometimes sharply. Interest only can suit specific situations, particularly for investors, but it costs more across the life of the loan.
Fortnightly or weekly can save you a significant amount, but only if you pay half the monthly amount each fortnight rather than a quarter of it each week. There are 26 fortnights in a year, not 24, so paying half the monthly figure fortnightly means you make the equivalent of 13 monthly repayments a year instead of 12. That extra repayment goes straight onto the principal.
More than most people expect. On a $600,000 loan at 6.00% over 30 years, dropping the rate by 0.25% cuts the monthly repayment by about $96 and saves around $34,500 in interest over the full term. A 0.50% reduction saves roughly $190 a month and around $68,600 overall. That is why the rate you are on matters more than almost any other single decision about your loan.
Your repayment goes up, usually within a month or two of your lender passing on the change. On a $600,000 loan, a 1.00% rise takes the monthly repayment from about $3,597 to about $3,992, an increase of roughly $395 a month. Use the rate buttons on the calculator to see the effect on your own numbers. It is worth knowing your position at a higher rate before you commit to a loan, not after. You can check rate updates via our rba rate updates page
Usually not. Most Australian lenders reduce the interest you are charged when rates fall but leave your repayment amount unchanged unless you ask them to lower it. That is not a trick, and it works in your favour, because the difference goes straight onto your principal and quietly shortens the loan. If you need the cash flow instead, you can ask your lender to reset the repayment to the new minimum.
A comparison rate combines the interest rate with most standard fees into a single figure, so you can compare loans on more than the headline rate. It is not built into this calculator because comparison rates are set against a standard example loan, usually $150,000 over 25 years, so they do not reflect your actual loan. They are useful for comparing products against each other, not for working out your repayment.
You can enter a monthly fee, and that is factored into the numbers. Not included are upfront costs like application and settlement fees, valuation fees, government charges, lenders mortgage insurance, and exit or discharge costs if you later refinance. On some loans an annual package fee replaces the monthly one. These do not change your repayment, but they change what the loan really costs you.
Every extra dollar comes straight off the principal, which reduces the interest charged for the whole remaining life of the loan. The effect compounds, so early extra repayments are worth far more than late ones. On a $600,000 loan at 6.00%, an extra $100 a week could cut around seven years off the term and save close to $190,000 in interest. Check whether your loan allows extra repayments without penalty, because most fixed rate loans limit them.
That depends on your loan size, your loan to value ratio, whether the property is owner occupied or an investment, your income and credit history, and which lender you go to. Advertised rates are a starting point, not an offer. This is the part a mortgage broker does for a living. We compare across a panel of bank and non bank lenders and we know how each one reads a file, so we can tell you what is realistically available to you.
You have more options than you might think. A lower rate is the fastest lever, and a difference of half a percent is worth around $190 a month on a $600,000 loan. Beyond that, a larger deposit, a longer term, a different lender or a different loan structure can all move the number. It is worth having someone look at the whole picture before deciding the loan is out of reach.
Possibly, and it is worth checking. Lenders frequently offer new customers better rates than existing ones, so a loan that was competitive three years ago may not be now. Find your current rate, enter it here, then use the lower rate buttons to see what a better rate would be worth to you. If the gap looks meaningful, that is the point to have a conversation.
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