Can I afford to buy a home?
A home may fit the mortgage calculation and still leave too little accessible money afterwards. A useful affordability comparison includes the purchase, financing, timing, ongoing household cashflow and the reserve left after completion.
What shapes affordability
- The purchase price, down payment and month in which the purchase happens.
- The mortgage amount, interest rate, payment and repayment term.
- Which savings or investments fund the down payment and purchase costs represented in the plan.
- Rent or other spending that ends after the move, and housing costs that continue.
- Income changes, other debt payments and the accessible reserve you want to keep.
Look beyond the value of the property
Keep your current path as the baseline and add the purchase only to a what-if plan. Remove rent from spending only from the month it genuinely ends, so the comparison does not count both rent and owner-occupied housing for the same period.
Review the period immediately after the purchase as well as the final net worth. The important constraint may be the reserve left next month, not the property equity shown many years later.
Questions worth testing
- How much accessible money remains immediately after the purchase?
- Can the plan absorb a higher price, rate or payment without becoming underfunded?
- How does investing less while building the down payment change the wider plan?
- Which purchase month leaves enough time to rebuild the reserve?
How to read the result
Worthifi shows how the purchase interacts with the financial plan you entered. It does not approve a mortgage, value a property, include costs you did not model or determine whether a purchase is suitable. Lending rules, taxes, fees and personal circumstances can differ; verify current requirements independently.
How it works in the app
Model the purchase as an acquisition with no rent (owner-occupied), a down payment, and a mortgage. The Dashboard flags affordability, shows the runway dip after the purchase, and warns if the mortgage isn't fundable.
- Tap “Buy a property”.
- Set the purchase price, down payment, and mortgage terms, and leave rent at 0 for owner-occupied.
- Review the affordability check and runway on the Dashboard.
Model this yourself