Houston mortgage calculator
What a Houston mortgage costs each month, how long it runs, what it costs in total, and how much sooner it ends if you pay a little more. Built on monthly compounding and the 30-year fixed loan, and it charges you private mortgage insurance for exactly as long as the law lets a lender charge it, which is the line most calculators leave out.
Calculator
The purchase
20.0% down. The minimum on this price is $9,900. At 20% or more there is no mortgage insurance.
A US lender qualifies you on debt-to-income rather than at a stress-test rate, so this payment is the payment. What varies is the rate you are quoted: credit score, points paid at closing and the lender itself move it by more than half a point.
The contract length, not the amortization. At the end of it you renew at whatever rates are then available.
Paying it down faster
Most lenders cap annual prepayments at 10–20% of the original principal, and charge a penalty above it. Check your own commitment before planning around a large lump sum.
Where the money goes, year by year
Early payments are almost all interest. The crossover (the year principal finally exceeds interest) is the real shape of an amortized loan, and it is much later than most people expect.
Show the first two years of the schedule
| Payment | Amount | Interest | Principal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,761.72 | $1,546.60 | $215.12 |
| 2 | $1,761.72 | $1,545.34 | $216.38 |
| 3 | $1,761.72 | $1,544.07 | $217.65 |
| 4 | $1,761.72 | $1,542.80 | $218.92 |
| 5 | $1,761.72 | $1,541.51 | $220.21 |
| 6 | $1,761.72 | $1,540.22 | $221.50 |
| 7 | $1,761.72 | $1,538.93 | $222.79 |
| 8 | $1,761.72 | $1,537.62 | $224.10 |
| 9 | $1,761.72 | $1,536.31 | $225.41 |
| 10 | $1,761.72 | $1,534.99 | $226.73 |
| 11 | $1,761.72 | $1,533.66 | $228.06 |
| 12 | $1,761.72 | $1,532.32 | $229.40 |
| 13 | $1,761.72 | $1,530.98 | $230.74 |
| 14 | $1,761.72 | $1,529.63 | $232.09 |
| 15 | $1,761.72 | $1,528.27 | $233.45 |
| 16 | $1,761.72 | $1,526.90 | $234.82 |
| 17 | $1,761.72 | $1,525.53 | $236.19 |
| 18 | $1,761.72 | $1,524.14 | $237.58 |
| 19 | $1,761.72 | $1,522.75 | $238.97 |
| 20 | $1,761.72 | $1,521.35 | $240.37 |
| 21 | $1,761.72 | $1,519.94 | $241.78 |
| 22 | $1,761.72 | $1,518.53 | $243.19 |
| 23 | $1,761.72 | $1,517.10 | $244.62 |
| 24 | $1,761.72 | $1,515.67 | $246.05 |
Derived from the figures above, not a lender's statement. A real schedule also depends on your closing date and the lender's rounding.
An estimate from published figures, not a lender quote.
PMI is the number to watch, not the rate
If you put down less than 20% the lender adds private mortgage insurance to the payment. It insures the lender, not you, and on the $330,000 Greater Houston median single-family sale price it works out like this. At 5% down (a $313,500 loan) a representative rate is about 0.67% of the loan a year, or $175 a month. Federal law makes the lender terminate it automatically when the scheduled balance first reaches 78% of the purchase price, which on a 30-year loan at 7.03% happens in month 142. That is 11.8 years and about $24,900 of payments that buy you no equity at all. At 3% down it is $232 a month and roughly $35,000.
Two things shorten it. You can ask the lender to cancel at 80% rather than wait for 78%, which is a right under the Homeowners Protection Act if you are current on the loan, and paying extra principal gets you there faster, because the trigger is the balance on the schedule rather than what the house is worth. The calculator above moves the termination month when you add an extra payment. The first-time buyer programs matter here too: the state's programs and the City of Houston's up to $75,000 go toward the down payment, and a larger down payment is the one thing that removes the insurance altogether.
The rate you are quoted is a personal number
This is the biggest difference from the Canadian pages on this site. There, CMHC publishes one premium schedule for the whole country and a lender either applies it or does not. Here the mortgage insurer prices you individually, mostly on credit score, and the same 5%-down loan can be quoted anywhere from about 0.4% to 1.3%. The bands used above are mid-market for a borrower around a 740 score. The loan rate itself moves too: Freddie Mac's survey had the 30-year fixed at 7.03% on 24 September 2026, against 6.30% a year earlier. Get a real quote before treating any of these totals as yours.
Monthly compounding, and why the Canadian number would be wrong
An American fixed-rate mortgage compounds monthly: the periodic rate is simply the annual rate divided by twelve. Canadian mortgages compound twice a year, which makes the same nominal rate slightly cheaper. On a $264,000 loan at 7.03% over 30 years the American payment is $1,761.72 and the Canadian convention would give $1,743.86: $18 a month, or about $6,400 over the life of the loan. This site runs both, and no page borrows the other country's arithmetic.
A biweekly plan is thirteen payments, not clever compounding
Paying half the monthly payment every two weeks means twenty-six half-payments a year, which is thirteen monthly payments' worth of money instead of twelve. On the benchmark loan with 20% down that takes a 30-year mortgage to about 24 years and saves roughly $93,200 in interest. There is nothing magic in it (it is simply paying about 8% more every year) and you can get the identical result by adding a twelfth of the payment to each monthly one, without a servicer's enrollment fee.
What this cannot tell you
The payment above is principal and interest, plus PMI where it applies. Your actual monthly bill will include property tax and homeowners insurance, which the lender will usually escrow: on a $330,000 house that is about $366 a month in tax at the 1.33% effective rate and roughly $450 in insurance, so about $2,578 all in at 20% down, before any flood policy, which a homeowners policy does not include. In Texas the tax line is the one to watch: that rate assumes you have filed for the homestead exemptions, which are not automatic, and the escrow account the lender opens at closing is sized to it. Add an association fee if the house has one, which nearly half of Houston owners pay, most of them to a deed-restricted civic association, and a municipal utility district's tax if the address is inside one. It also cannot tell you your closing costs, which in Texas run to the title company's escrow fee, split with the seller, a lender's title policy and its endorsements, an inspection, a survey or the seller's affidavit that the old one still holds, the county clerk's recording fees, and whatever the lender charges to originate the loan. There is no transfer tax to pay at all: the state constitution forbids one. For the full comparison against renting, use the rent versus buy calculator.
Sources
- HAR.com reports more choices and steady prices in Houston's August housing market · My Neighborhood News, republishing the Houston Association of REALTORS' August 2026 release · retrieved Supports: 7,100 single-family sales in Greater Houston in August 2026, down 11.5% from August 2025, A median single-family sale price of $330,000, down 1.5% or $5,000 from August 2025, and an average of $426,760, up 1.2%, A median of $330,000 for existing single-family homes, down 2.9%, 38,947 active single-family listings and a 5.3-month supply, 405 townhouse and condominium sales, unchanged, at a median of $195,000, down 7.1%, and an 8.8-month supply
- Greater Houston area home sales on the decline · Community Impact · retrieved Supports: From the August 2026 monthly housing update of the Houston Association of Realtors, published 16 September 2026, Single-family sales down 11.5% and the median single-family price down $5,000 to $330,000
- Monthly update: home sales, August 2026 · Greater Houston Partnership · retrieved Supports: 59,843 single-family sales in the region year to date through August 2026, according to the Houston Association of Realtors, A 12-month average of the median MLS sale price of roughly $331,000 in August 2026, down about one percent on a year earlier
- Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical home value of $261,740 for the city of Houston (region 39051) in August 2026, $267,880 in August 2025, so a fall of 2.3% over the year
- Zillow Home Value Index, single-family and condominium series, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical single-family value of $267,956 in the city of Houston in August 2026, against $274,277 a year earlier, down 2.3%, A typical condominium value of $131,763 in the same month, against $140,224, down 6.0%, from the condominium file at https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zhvi/City_zhvi_uc_condo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv
- Houston Rent Report, October 2026 · Apartment List · retrieved Supports: A median rent of $1,120 for a one-bedroom and $1,327 for a two-bedroom in the city of Houston, and $1,269 across all bedroom sizes, Rents flat over September and down 2.3% over the past 12 months, A metro-wide median of $1,335, 5.0% above the city's
- Apartments for rent in Houston, TX: average rent · Apartment List · retrieved Supports: Average listed rents of $1,299 and up for a studio, $1,309 and up for one bedroom, $1,630 and up for two, and $2,102 and up for three or more
- FY 2026 fair market rents, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX HUD Metro FMR Area · United States Department of Housing and Urban Development · retrieved Supports: FY 2026 fair market rents of $1,323 for one bedroom, $1,573 for two and $2,116 for three, as gross rents including utilities
- Zillow Observed Rent Index, all homes plus multifamily, smoothed, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: An observed rent index of $1,542 for the city of Houston in August 2026, against $1,544 a year earlier, down 0.13%
- Jurisdictions: homestead exemptions and tax rates · Harris Central Appraisal District · retrieved Supports: 2025 rates per $100: Harris County 0.380960, Harris County Flood Control District 0.049660, Harris County Port of Houston Authority 0.005900, Harris County Hospital District 0.187610, Harris County Department of Education 0.004798, City of Houston 0.519190, Houston ISD 0.878300, Houston City College 0.098802, Homestead exemptions of 20% for every one of those units except Houston City College, which grants 17%, and a flat $140,000 plus 20% for Houston ISD, No 2026 rate yet for any of the eight, from the table's data at https://hcad.org/actions/hcad-module/default/jurisdictions, More than 400 active utility districts in the appraisal district's list, at a median 2025 rate of about 0.54 per $100
- Tax rates · Harris County Tax Office · retrieved Supports: The same 2025 adopted rates with their maintenance and operations and debt parts: Harris County 0.33696 and 0.044, the Flood Control District 0.03826 and 0.0114, the Hospital District 0.17876 and 0.00885, the City of Houston 0.40326 and 0.11593, Houston ISD 0.7116 and 0.1667, and the Port's whole rate as debt, The City of Houston's rate at 0.51919 for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 tax years, 2026 rates already listed for Harris County (0.4175), the Flood Control District (0.05266), the Hospital District (0.19528) and the Port (0.00603), and none yet for the City, Houston ISD or the college
- FY2027 adopted budget: General Fund revenues · City of Houston Finance Department · retrieved Supports: Taxable values within the City set by the Harris, Montgomery or Fort Bend central appraisal district, A City tax rate of 51.919 cents per $100 for tax year 2025, and an estimate of the same for 2026, Proposition 1 of November 2004 capping the annual increase in total property tax revenue at the lower of inflation plus population growth or 4.5%, and Proposition H of November 2006 raising the limit by $90 million, Tax bills sent by the Harris County Tax Office around mid-November and due by 31 January
- FY2027 adopted budget: letter from the Mayor · City of Houston · retrieved Supports: Houston has operated for more than a decade under two revenue caps, which forced a nearly 20% reduction in the tax rate
- FY2026 adopted budget: letter from the Mayor · City of Houston · retrieved Supports: No other large Texas city is burdened by both a locally imposed revenue cap and the state cap or must fund solid waste operations without dedicated revenues
- Development regulations · City of Houston Planning and Development Department · retrieved Supports: The City of Houston does not have zoning, and its codes do not address land use, Development governed by ordinance codes on how property can be subdivided, chiefly Chapter 42, within the city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction
- Deed restrictions · City of Houston Legal Department · retrieved Supports: The City's authority to enforce residential deed restrictions under Chapter 212 of the Local Government Code and sections 10-551 through 10-555 of the City Code
- Harris County's flooding history · Harris County Flood Control District · retrieved Supports: A major flood somewhere in Harris County about every two years, mostly in areas developed before current regulations, More flood insurance funds paid in Harris County than in any other community in the National Flood Insurance Program
- Hurricane Harvey frequently asked questions · Harris County Flood Control District · retrieved Supports: Flooding outside the FEMA mapped floodplain, from ponding and overland sheet flow when rainfall overwhelms street drainage, The mapped floodplain is only an estimate of where flooding is predicted to occur from a bayou or creek, The City of Houston as one of the local floodplain administrators for the National Flood Insurance Program
- Hurricane Harvey and its impacts on Southeast Texas, 25 to 29 August 2017 · National Weather Service, Houston/Galveston · retrieved Supports: Landfall near Port Aransas on 25 August 2017 as a category 4 hurricane, Rainfall of between 4.62 and 56 inches across the area, the highest near Friendswood
- Home, flood, wind: which policies do you need? · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved Supports: Most home policies do not cover floods; a flood policy covers damage from rising water
- Drainage utility charge FAQs · City of Houston, Rebuild Houston · retrieved Supports: A residential rate of $0.032 per square foot of impervious surface a year behind a curb and gutter and $0.026 on an open ditch, $48.00 a year, $4.00 a month, on 1,500 square feet behind a curb and gutter
- Property tax exemptions · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: A school district residence homestead exemption of $140,000 under Tax Code section 11.13(b), Local option homestead exemptions of up to 20% of appraised value, and not less than $5,000, under section 11.13(n), A prorated exemption in the year of purchase only if the previous owner did not have one
- Valuing property: limitation on residence homestead value increases · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: A residence homestead's appraised value may not rise more than 10% a year once the owner has qualified in the preceding and current year
- Property tax protests and appeals · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: A protest deadline of 15 May or 30 days after the appraisal district mails the notice of appraised value, whichever is later
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 24 September 2026 · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 7.03%, up from 6.95% the week before and 6.30% a year earlier
- Texas homeowners insurance market overview · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved Supports: A statewide average homeowners premium of $3,489 a year for 2025, from the Texas Statistical Plan for Residential Risks, Paid homeowners losses in 2024 of $4.93 billion from hail and $2.21 billion from wind
- How much is homeowners insurance in Houston, TX? · Insure.com · retrieved Supports: An average Houston premium of $5,391 a year for $300,000 of dwelling cover, $100,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, updated 27 May 2026, Standard home insurance policies generally exclude flood damage
- Texas homeowners insurance · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Houston premium of $9,095 a year and a Texas average of $5,910, for $500,000 of dwelling cover, updated 20 February 2026
- Renters insurance in Texas · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Houston renters premium of $167 a year for $30,000 of personal property
- Monthly homeowners' association and condominium fee, tables B25142 and B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Houston city · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: A median monthly association fee of $144 among Houston owner-occupied units that pay one, 176,568 of 385,594 owner-occupied units, or 45.8%, paying such a fee, and 31,837 paying $500 or more a month
- Homebuyer Assistance Program · City of Houston Housing and Community Development Department · retrieved Supports: Up to $75,000 for income-qualified first-time homebuyers, or buyers who have not owned a home in the last three years, at or below 80% of area median income, The home must pay taxes to the City of Houston, A no-interest forgivable loan secured by a lien, fulfilled if the buyer lives in the home for eight years, with a portion repaid on a sale or move before then, No maximum home price, and less than $50,000 in liquid assets
- Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2025 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved Supports: A population of 2,397,315 for Houston on 1 July 2025, 2,347,346 of them in Harris County, 43,668 in Fort Bend, 6,301 in Montgomery and none in Waller, 17,434 in Bellaire and 15,158 in West University Place
- 2025 Gazetteer files: places, Texas · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: A land area of 640.819 square miles and a water area of 31.222 square miles for Houston city
- About Houston: education · City of Houston · retrieved Supports: Houston ISD serves 312 square miles with 288 schools
- Local schools · City of Houston Mayor's Office of Education · retrieved Supports: Public school districts in the Houston area including Aldine, Alief, Cypress-Fairbanks, Fort Bend, Houston, Humble, Katy, Klein, Spring and Spring Branch, and North Forest annexed by Houston ISD in 2013
- 2025 was a year of transformation and change for HCC · Houston City College · retrieved Supports: The college publishing under the name Houston City College
These are estimates built from published figures, not a lender quote, a pre-approval or financial advice. Rates, premiums and state and federal rules change; confirm anything you plan to act on with a mortgage professional and read the sourcing methodology.