Savings Planner for Your Down Payment
This down payment calculator sets your target to the cent and counts saving time in whole months; budgets, closing cash and qualification stay separate.
What This Calculator Does
Give it a price and a percentage, and it returns the cash you'll need to have. It then sets that figure against what you hold today and adds steady deposits at each month's end until the first month the target is met. The target rounds up to the next cent, never down to whole dollars. Someone already funded, someone still saving and someone depositing zero each get a different result. This page covers the down payment alone. Full cash to close and loan approval are separate questions.
Who Is This For
Buyer or agent, you can set a down payment milestone here in U.S. dollars, even a hypothetical 0% or 100% target. Verify separately whether a program accepts you, which terms a mortgage carries, what buying costs and how prices move.
How It Works
Start with the price, the down payment share you want and the cash already set aside. Then add a monthly sum, unless that cash covers the target on its own. Leave it blank when it isn't needed and it won't be saved as $0. Check that the scope is the down payment alone. Then read all eight outputs, paying most attention to whole months, the projected balance at full budgets, any surplus and the reduced sum needed in the final month. If any input changes, run it again.
Frequently Asked Questions
What will the down payment calculator work out for me?
The cash for the percentage you entered, and the shortfall that remains. The number of whole saving months comes next, then a yes or no on whether today's cash reaches the target, then the funding status. If every monthly deposit is made in full, it projects the balance and surplus, plus the minimum needed in the last month. The price is held fixed, and no interest is earned. It doesn't show everything you need in cash to buy, and it says nothing about loan approval.
What's the point of rounding the goal up to the cent?
Rounding up keeps the cash, counted in cents, at or above the percentage you entered. Take 3.5% of $750,001. That's $26,250.035, so the target becomes $26,250.04. Having $26,250 in hand still leaves you short. Upward rounding is a conservative planning convention, and not every lender works that way. The on-screen display, rounded to whole dollars, never decides whether the target is funded.
Does the planner accept 0% or 100% as a goal?
Yes, both are allowed as calculation targets. A 0% target simply means no down payment cash is required in the plan. It is not evidence that you'd qualify for a zero-down loan or a closing with zero cash. Pick 100% and the target equals the full purchase price, yet it still ignores what closing, a move and a cash reserve will take. Programs with low or zero down payments set rules of their own about the borrower, the property and the lender. The percentage you choose checks none of those conditions.
I already have the cash; do I still need to enter a monthly amount?
Yes, you can leave it blank. When today's cash already covers the target, no saving month lies ahead, so the result reads 0 months, your cash sits at the target, and any surplus is what you hold now. No phantom deposit gets invented. A blank monthly budget is flagged as not needed, never stored as $0. If you do type a monthly figure, it has to be valid even when you're funded. If the target isn't funded yet, the monthly sum must be known, and a blank can't quietly turn into 0.
What happens if my monthly savings are $0 and I'm short of the target?
You'll still see the cash gap, and nothing else. With a monthly sum of 0, there's no funding month, no projected balance, no surplus and no last-month sum, since these figures can never reach the target. That's not 0 months, an endless wait or a loan rejection. A larger monthly amount or a different target would change the plan. Gifts, future proceeds, interest and price changes are not assumed to fill the gap unless you enter them.
How come the final month asks for less than the monthly budget?
Whole months are the reason. Your cash is there from the start, and deposits land at the end of each month. Take a $26,250 gap and $1,000 a month: that's 27 months. Full deposits would add up to $27,000, which overshoots the target by $750. The final month therefore needs just $250, and putting in that last increment hits the target exactly. The projected balance still counts full budgets, not a transfer capped at what's needed.
What cash should I enter, and what costs are left out?
Enter the money you've dedicated to the down payment, after keeping other needs reserved separately. Use the net extra amount you can move each month, not gross income. Aid you haven't verified and future withdrawals shouldn't be treated as available or accepted. Left out are taxes, moving and closing costs. The costs of financing and any emergency fund stay outside too. A surplus above the target doesn't mean those needs are met.
What can the official references tell me, and what can't they?
The official sources were last read on September 30, 2026, and they supply program context only. Think of Fannie Mae's 97% LTV options for qualifying borrowers, VA zero-down conditions, mortgage costs listed separately and conventional PMI. None of that checks your eligibility, your funds, the price or present terms. Reaching an entered 20% is not universal proof that mortgage insurance can come off. Confirm your actual loan and cash needs with a lender. Month counts are plain math and don't predict when you'll close.