How Much Home Loan Can You Get on Your Salary

Eligibility is worked out backwards. The lender first decides what monthly outgo you can service, then finds the loan amount whose EMI fits inside it.

The ratio used is commonly called FOIR — fixed obligation to income ratio. Most lenders cap total EMIs across all your loans at roughly 50–60% of net monthly income, and use a lower ratio at lower incomes and for larger loans.

1. Start with net monthly income — take-home, not CTC.
2. Apply the lender’s ratio. On ₹1,00,000 net at 50%, that is ₹50,000 of total EMI capacity.
3. Subtract existing EMIs. A ₹15,000 car loan leaves ₹35,000.
4. Find the loan amount whose EMI equals that. At 8.5% over 20 years, ₹35,000 a month supports roughly ₹40.3 lakh.
5. Apply the loan-to-value cap against the property value, and take the lower of the two figures.

Income eligibility is only one constraint. Lenders also cap the loan as a share of the property value, and the two are applied together — you get the lower.

The practical consequence is that you fund the balance yourself, plus stamp duty and registration, which are normally outside the loan entirely. A buyer who plans only for the down payment and forgets stamp duty is short by a meaningful amount at exactly the wrong moment.

• Age and remaining working life. Tenure usually cannot run past a stated retirement age, and a shorter tenure means a higher EMI for the same loan, which reduces eligibility.
• Credit score. A weak score can mean a higher rate, a lower ratio, or a rejection.
• Income stability. Salaried applicants at established employers are assessed differently from self-employed applicants, who are usually assessed on filed returns over several years.
• A co-applicant with income can raise eligibility substantially — and makes both parties fully liable for the whole debt.
• Variable pay is often discounted or excluded. Do not assume the lender counts your bonus the way you do.

The sanctioned amount is an underwriting ceiling — the point at which the lender starts worrying about being repaid. It is not advice about what you can comfortably live with.

A useful private test: work out the EMI you could still pay in a bad month, with reduced variable pay, a medical expense, or a gap between jobs. Borrow against that figure, not against your best month.

Then check the total interest. Borrowing the maximum over the longest tenure is the most expensive combination available, and the monthly relief from the extra years is usually far smaller than the interest it costs.