DSCR Calculator: Pick How Debt Coverage Is Measured
Pick NOI or the rent your lender accepts, then see how a DSCR ratio compares with your payment budget or a sample loan size; it isn't loan approval.
What This Calculator Does
This page measures whether rent carries a loan payment, under the coverage definition you choose. Model A: NOI against P&I. Model B: lender-accepted rent against P&I plus the housing costs the program classifies. Give it a target and note terms and it solves backward for a hypothetical maximum principal. That figure is coverage only. It is not an approved loan, and no rule says every lender sizes loans this way.
Who Is This For
If you're an investor or real-estate pro with a lender's rent figure, cost classes and terms, run that one case here. Another source has to tell you which program applies. The tool says nothing about borrower eligibility, property value, leverage or reserves; each is its own check.
How It Works
Choose the method first, since it decides which fields you fill in. For NOI, enter scheduled rent, vacancy and every operating cost. For PITIA, enter the rent your lender accepted, and put taxes, required insurance and HOA in separate fields. Then set how much you'd borrow, the fixed rate per year, how long the loan runs, and the coverage you're aiming for, such as 1.35. Even with loan 0, rate and term still matter, because the maximum-loan estimate runs on them. Last, compare the output with your target. Look at the payment the income supports too, which can turn negative, and at the maximum loan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why settle on a method before typing any rent?
Because they're different fractions. The NOI one has income after vacancy and operating costs on top and P&I alone underneath. The PITIA one has the lender's already-accepted rent on top and P&I plus taxes, insurance and HOA underneath. Scheduled, collected and lender-accepted rent are distinct amounts. Switching methods neither makes your rent lender-accepted nor turns operating expenses into housing costs.
Can the same inputs pass one coverage test and fail the other?
Yes. Take $4,000 rent, a 5% vacancy allowance and $900 in costs, on a $320,000 loan at an assumed 7% over 30 years. Operating income is $2,900 and P&I about $2,128.97, so DSCR is about 1.3622×. That clears a 1.35× target. Now take a program with the same $4,000 rent, where $900 of actual taxes, insurance and HOA sit on top of P&I. Divide by $3,028.97 and you get about 1.3206×. That misses 1.35×. The largest loan moves too: about $322,882.92 on NOI, about $310,078.95 on accepted rent. Neither result is a financing approval.
Does the calculator pick or reduce the qualifying rent?
No. The tool takes the rent you give it and guesses nothing. Enter the monthly qualifying rent the program accepted, and that number goes into the math untouched. It won't choose between a lease and the lender's rent estimate. It won't apply a cut the program never documented, and it won't rule on eligibility. Nor does it take vacancy off accepted rent a second time. NOI mode works the other way: you start from the full rent on the schedule and enter your expected vacancy or collection loss as its own line. Each definition rests on its own rent, so check before you carry a net or gross figure across.
What counts as a housing cost here?
Only what the program documents as monthly taxes, required insurance and association or assessment charges. P&I stays out, because the model has already counted it. Repairs, management or a lump of operating costs don't land there on their own. NOI mode has no housing bucket at all; every expense goes in, following the NOI convention you've confirmed outside this page. If a field is grayed out, it simply doesn't apply. That isn't the same as a zero you've checked. Enter every cost in one place only, and ask how your lender sorts them.
What does the calculator show when the loan is zero?
With a loan of 0, P&I is 0. NOI mode shows no DSCR at all here, since a ratio needs a payment to divide by. The supported-loan figure is computed separately and can still be positive. PITIA is different when other housing costs are positive: accepted rent of $4,000 with $900 of costs and a loan of 0 gives about 4.4444×. If those costs are also 0, no ratio appears. Either way, rate and term are still required, so the maximum supported loan is still computed. A loan of 0 is not a cash purchase, and nothing here is an approval.
Can I meet the target and still have no room for a loan?
Yes, when fixed costs swallow nearly all of it. Set the loan at 0 and the target at 1.25×. Accepted rent of $1,250 against $1,000 of fixed costs puts DSCR at exactly 1.25×, and the supported payment comes out as $1,250/1.25−$1,000=0. So the maximum supported loan is 0. Now flip it: accepted rent of $1,000 and fixed costs of $1,500, same 1.25× target, leave a supported payment of −$700. That negative figure stays on screen. The maximum loan is 0 again, since the costs use up all the income. Any time operating income sits at 0 or below, there's no loan to support. Both cases are illustrations, not program quotes.
How should I read the target and the largest-loan result?
Say you enter 1.35: the property's income has to reach 1.35 times the loan payment. It's a ratio, not a percentage. The form accepts only 0.8–2, and that's the form's own limit; no law or lender standard sets it. Go under 1 and loan payments are allowed to outrun income. For the supported payment, the tool splits income by your target, then takes off any fixed housing costs that apply. If what's left is positive, your rate and term turn it into principal. Read that principal as coverage and nothing else. It leaves out property value, loan-to-value and credit, along with reserves, down payment and program loan caps. Field limits don't cap outputs.
How exact is this DSCR loan calculator, and what loan does it assume?
Results come from exact payments, not a lender's rounded statement; that covers the target check, supported payment and maximum loan. A DSCR displayed as 1.35× but really 1.34999 fails a 1.35× target. Amounts keep their cents, and vacancy, rate and target take up to four decimals. For the yearly view, the tool multiplies monthly income and monthly payments by 12. That's why the ratio is neither an annual return nor a forecast over several years. The math assumes a standard fixed-rate loan. Your note rate isn't an APR, and it isn't a market quote either. Income taxes and investment return stay out of it.