Raleigh mortgage calculator
What a Raleigh 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 $12,860. 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 | $2,288.48 | $2,009.03 | $279.45 |
| 2 | $2,288.48 | $2,007.40 | $281.08 |
| 3 | $2,288.48 | $2,005.75 | $282.73 |
| 4 | $2,288.48 | $2,004.09 | $284.39 |
| 5 | $2,288.48 | $2,002.43 | $286.05 |
| 6 | $2,288.48 | $2,000.75 | $287.73 |
| 7 | $2,288.48 | $1,999.07 | $289.41 |
| 8 | $2,288.48 | $1,997.37 | $291.11 |
| 9 | $2,288.48 | $1,995.66 | $292.82 |
| 10 | $2,288.48 | $1,993.95 | $294.53 |
| 11 | $2,288.48 | $1,992.22 | $296.26 |
| 12 | $2,288.48 | $1,990.49 | $297.99 |
| 13 | $2,288.48 | $1,988.74 | $299.74 |
| 14 | $2,288.48 | $1,986.99 | $301.49 |
| 15 | $2,288.48 | $1,985.22 | $303.26 |
| 16 | $2,288.48 | $1,983.44 | $305.04 |
| 17 | $2,288.48 | $1,981.66 | $306.82 |
| 18 | $2,288.48 | $1,979.86 | $308.62 |
| 19 | $2,288.48 | $1,978.05 | $310.43 |
| 20 | $2,288.48 | $1,976.23 | $312.25 |
| 21 | $2,288.48 | $1,974.40 | $314.08 |
| 22 | $2,288.48 | $1,972.56 | $315.92 |
| 23 | $2,288.48 | $1,970.71 | $317.77 |
| 24 | $2,288.48 | $1,968.85 | $319.63 |
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 $428,671 typical Raleigh home it works out like this. At 5% down (a $407,237 loan) a representative rate is about 0.67% of the loan a year, or $227 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 $32,300 of payments that buy you no equity at all. At 3% down it is $301 a month and roughly $45,500.
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 and the City of Raleigh's assistance goes 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 $342,937 loan at 7.03% over 30 years the American payment is $2,288.48 and the Canadian convention would give $2,265.28: $23 a month, or about $8,400 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 $121,000 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 $428,671 house that is about $310 a month in tax at the 0.87% effective rate and roughly $210 in insurance, so about $2,808 all in at 20% down. Add an association fee if the house has one, which more than half of Raleigh's owners pay. It also cannot tell you your closing costs, which in North Carolina run to a closing attorney, an owner's title policy, an inspection, the Wake County Register of Deeds, and whatever the lender charges to originate the loan. The excise tax (North Carolina's transfer tax) is the seller's, not yours. For the full comparison against renting, use the rent versus buy calculator.
Sources
- Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical home value of $428,671 for the city of Raleigh in August 2026, $436,286 in August 2025, so a fall of 1.7% over the year
- Zillow Home Value Index, single-family and condominium series, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical single-family value of $440,555 in the city of Raleigh in August 2026, down 1.5% on the year, A typical condominium value of $270,056 in the same month, down 8.0% on the year, 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
- Raleigh, NC average rent and rent trends · RentCafe / Yardi Matrix · retrieved Supports: An average Raleigh apartment rent of $1,588, down 1.61% from $1,613 a year earlier, updated 31 August 2026, Average rents of $1,322 studio, $1,409 one-bedroom, $1,655 two-bedroom and $2,028 three-bedroom
- Wake County tax rates, current to 2017 · Wake County Department of Tax Administration · retrieved Supports: A Wake County rate of 53.71 cents per $100 for 2026, against 51.71 cents in 2025, A City of Raleigh rate of 37.20 cents per $100 for 2026, against 35.50 cents in 2025, A Raleigh downtown municipal service district rate of 6.8 cents per $100, levied only inside the district, 2024 marked as a revaluation year
- Sales assessment ratio studies as of January 1, 2025 · North Carolina Department of Revenue, Local Government Division · retrieved Supports: Wake County last revalued in 2024, A median sales assessment ratio of 95.39% for Wake: assessed values are 95.39% of sale prices, An effective county tax rate of 0.4933% against a nominal 0.5171%, computed as rate times assessment level, A coefficient of dispersion of 8.64 for Wake, Wake's next reappraisal scheduled for 2027
- 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, Rates for first-lien prime conventional conforming home purchase mortgages with a loan-to-value of 80%, which is the 20% down payment the hub's payment figure assumes
- Zillow Observed Rent Index, all homes plus multifamily, smoothed, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: An observed rent index of $1,577 for the city of Raleigh in August 2026, up 0.45% from $1,570 a year earlier
- Wake County commissioners adopt $2.28 billion fiscal year 2027 budget · Wake County · retrieved Supports: The county property tax rate rises 2 cents to 53.71 cents per $100 for FY2027, adopted 1 June 2026
- Raleigh leaders approve budget with property tax increase · WRAL · retrieved Supports: The City of Raleigh's FY2027 budget raises the property tax rate by 1.7 cents per $100
- Wake County shortens revaluation cycle · Wake County · retrieved Supports: The last revaluation took effect on 1 January 2024, The next revaluations take effect on 1 January 2027 and 1 January 2029, and every two years after that
- Commissioner Causey negotiates settlement on Rate Bureau's homeowners' insurance request · North Carolina Department of Insurance · retrieved Supports: Base rate increases of 7.5% on 1 June 2025 and 7.5% on 1 June 2026 in territory 270, the cities of Durham and Raleigh, against a Rate Bureau request of 39.8%, No further rate filing before 1 June 2027
- How much is homeowners insurance in Raleigh, NC? · Insure.com · retrieved Supports: An average Raleigh premium of $2,850 a year for $300,000 of dwelling cover, $100,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, updated 27 May 2026
- North Carolina homeowners insurance · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Raleigh premium of $2,420 a year and a North Carolina average of $3,025, for $400,000 of dwelling cover
- Renters insurance in North Carolina · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Raleigh renters premium of $160 a year for $30,000 of personal property
- Monthly homeowners' or condominium association fee, table B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Raleigh city · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: A median monthly association fee of $114 among Raleigh owner-occupied units that pay one, 58,527 of 108,529 owner-occupied units, or 53.9%, paying such a fee, from table B25142
- Homebuyer assistance · City of Raleigh Housing and Neighborhoods · retrieved Supports: 0% deferred loans for first-time buyers at or below 80% of area median income, Up to $45,000 citywide on a home priced up to $389,500, and up to $60,000 in designated areas on a home up to $450,000
- Conforming loan limit values for 2026 · Federal Housing Finance Agency · retrieved Supports: A baseline one-unit conforming loan limit of $832,750 for 2026, which is the limit in Wake County
- Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2025 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved Supports: A population of 506,306 for Raleigh on 1 July 2025, against 467,665 at the 2020 census
- 2025 Gazetteer files: places, North Carolina · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: A land area of 152.263 square miles for Raleigh city, against 147.116 in the 2020 file
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.