What Can I Afford in Dublin?

How this affordability calculator works

Your maximum purchase price is whichever comes first: the loan-to-income cap or the loan-to-value cap. The Central Bank of Ireland lets first-time buyers borrow up to four times gross annual income and non-first-time buyers up to 3.5×. On top of that, first-time buyers need a minimum 10% deposit (90% LTV) and non-first-time buyers need 20% (80% LTV). Investment properties are typically capped at 70% LTV. Lenders can grant a small share of exceptions to these limits, but this calculator assumes the standard policy limits apply.

The stress test figure shows what your monthly repayment would be if interest rates rose by two percentage points from the quoted rate. This is a typical lender check, not a Central Bank requirement — individual lenders set their own stress margins (usually between +2% and +3%). If the stress test result pushes your monthly repayment above roughly 35% of gross monthly income, most lenders will reduce the amount they are willing to lend even if you are within the LTI limit.

What this calculator does not include: your credit history, existing loans (personal, car, student), childcare costs, dependents, employment type (permanent vs contractor vs self-employed), or any lender affordability tests beyond the headline LTI/LTV rules. Real lender decisions factor all of those in. Treat the output as an upper bound under a clean-credit, no-other-debts scenario, not as a guaranteed loan offer.

Worked example — €100,000 combined income, first-time buyer

Suppose you are buying as a couple with a combined gross income of €100,000 and savings of €40,000. The Central Bank loan-to-income cap limits your borrowing to 4× income = €400,000. Under the 90% LTV rule the minimum deposit on a €400,000 property is €40,000 — which is exactly what you have. So your maximum purchase price is €400,000, with a mortgage of €360,000.

At a 4.5% interest rate over a 30-year term, the base monthly repayment is about €1,824. At the +2% stress-tested rate of 6.5%, it rises to about €2,276. That stress-tested figure is roughly 27% of your gross monthly income of €8,333 — comfortably below the 35% threshold most lenders apply, so affordability would generally pass.

If your deposit were €50,000 instead of €40,000, the LTI limit would still cap borrowing at €400,000 — meaning your maximum purchase price would rise to €450,000 (loan €400,000 at 89% LTV, still inside the 90% cap). Deposit above the LTV-minimum buys you additional purchase price only up to the LTI ceiling. For the full monthly-repayment breakdown on any scenario, see the mortgage calculator.