Home Loan Eligibility: How Much Can You Borrow on Your Salary?

A lender's first question is simple: can you repay this loan comfortably for its whole life? You repay a home loan in EMIs — equated monthly instalments — often over many years, so the lender looks at several things together rather than any one in isolation.

• Income — your regular monthly income, shown through salary slips, bank statements and income-tax returns. Salaried and self-employed borrowers are assessed a little differently.
• Existing EMIs — every loan you already repay, from a car loan to a personal loan, reduces what is left for a new one.
• Age and tenure — how many years you have to repay before the lender's upper age limit.
• Job or business stability — how long you have been in your job, or how steady your business income has been.
• Credit score — your track record of repaying past loans and credit cards.
• The property itself — its value, approvals and legal standing, because the loan is secured against it.

None of these works alone. A high salary with heavy existing EMIs can qualify for less than a moderate salary with no loans at all. Each lender also applies its own policy, so two banks can look at the same profile and offer different amounts. That is why comparing lenders is worthwhile; the step-by-step of applying is covered in our home loan process guide.

The biggest single factor is how much of your monthly income would be committed to loan repayments. Lenders often call this FOIR — the fixed obligations to income ratio — which is simply the share of your income going to EMIs, including the new home-loan EMI you are asking for. Each lender sets its own ceiling, and it can vary with your income level, your employer and the type of loan. Treat any figure you hear second-hand as one lender's policy, not a rule.

Which income counts also differs. Some lenders work from your gross salary, others from take-home pay. Fixed pay is usually counted in full, while bonuses, incentives and variable pay may be averaged or only partly counted. For self-employed borrowers, lenders generally rely on income-tax returns and accounts over several years rather than a single good year.

Existing obligations include more than the obvious loans. Car and two-wheeler loans, personal loans and education loans you are repaying all count, and some lenders also take into account part of your outstanding credit-card balance. A loan with only a few EMIs left may still count against you until it is actually closed.

Tenure is the number of years over which you repay. Spread the same loan over more years and each EMI becomes smaller, which means the same income can support a larger loan. That is why tenure has such a strong effect on eligibility.

The catch is cost. A longer tenure means paying interest for longer, so the total you repay rises considerably. On a floating-rate loan, a rate increase is sometimes absorbed by extending your tenure rather than raising your EMI, which can quietly push your last payment further away. Ask your lender how it handles rate changes.

Your age sets the outer limit. Lenders generally want a loan repaid by a maximum age, or around retirement for salaried borrowers, and each sets its own cut-off. So a borrower in their late twenties can usually choose a much longer tenure than one in their early fifties — and the older borrower may qualify for a smaller loan on exactly the same salary. Some lenders may take a younger earning co-applicant, such as an adult son or daughter, into account when setting the tenure, so it is worth asking.

A practical approach is to take a tenure that keeps the EMI comfortable today, then prepay whenever you can. Check your lender's prepayment terms before you sign.

Even if your income supports a large loan, the property's value sets a ceiling. The Reserve Bank of India limits how much of a property's value a lender may finance through a home loan — the loan-to-value, or LTV, ratio. At the time of writing (2026) the limits are:

• For loans up to ₹30 lakh, up to 90% of the property's value.
• For loans above ₹30 lakh and up to ₹75 lakh, up to 80%.
• For loans above ₹75 lakh, up to 75%.

These are maximums, not entitlements. A lender may offer less depending on your profile and the property, and loans for buying a plot usually have lower limits that vary by lender — our guide to plot loans versus home loans explains the difference.

Lenders work from their own valuation of the property, and many use the lower of that valuation and the price you have agreed. Whatever the loan does not cover is your down payment, sometimes called margin money. Don't assume the loan will also cover stamp duty, registration and the other costs of buying: ask your lender, and plan for them from your own savings. Our list of the hidden costs of buying a property shows what to set aside.

Adding a co-applicant — usually a spouse, a parent or sometimes an adult child — lets the lender count both incomes, which can raise the amount you qualify for. Many lenders also require every co-owner of the property to be a co-applicant on the loan.

Be clear about what it means, though. A co-applicant is equally responsible for the repayments, and the loan appears on both people's credit reports. If EMIs are missed, both records suffer. The co-applicant's own loans and credit history are examined too, so a co-applicant with heavy debts or a poor repayment record can reduce the amount on offer rather than increase it.

Your credit score is the lender's shorthand for how reliably you have repaid in the past. Scores such as CIBIL run from 300 to 900, and many lenders commonly prefer scores around 750 or above. That is a common preference rather than a fixed rule, and lenders weigh the whole report, not just the number. A weaker score can mean a smaller loan, stricter terms or a rejection. Our guide to credit scores and home loans explains how to check yours and improve it before you apply.

You can reach a sensible working estimate at home before speaking to any bank. Work backwards from the EMI you can afford, not forwards from the property you like.

1. Add up your monthly income and every EMI you already pay.
2. Ask one or two lenders what total EMIs their policy would allow on your profile, or use the eligibility calculators many of them provide.
3. Subtract your existing EMIs to find the room left for a home-loan EMI.
4. In our EMI calculator, enter the interest rate you have been quoted and a tenure, then adjust the loan amount until the EMI fits that room.
5. Check the loan against the RBI loan-to-value limit for the property, and add your own savings to see your overall budget.

An illustration, with round numbers. Suppose you take home ₹1 lakh a month, already pay ₹20,000 a month on a car loan, and a lender tells you its policy would allow your total EMIs to reach ₹50,000 a month. The car loan uses part of that, leaving about ₹30,000 for a home-loan EMI; close the car loan first and the room grows. These numbers are invented purely to show the arithmetic. Lenders' limits vary, some work from gross rather than take-home pay, and your real figure could be quite different.

If the estimate falls short, there are honest ways to close the gap:

• Close or prepay small loans before applying, especially ones with only a few EMIs left.
• Keep credit-card balances low and pay them in full, since outstanding balances can count against you.
• Add an earning co-applicant, ideally one with few existing loans and a clean repayment record.
• Choose a longer tenure, accepting the higher total interest, and plan to prepay later.
• Put in a larger down payment, which reduces the loan you need.
• Declare all regular income with proper proof, such as rent received, so the lender can consider it.
• Check your credit report for errors and get them corrected well before you apply.

Avoid the dishonest shortcuts. Inflating income or hiding existing loans will surface in the lender's checks and can get an application rejected outright.

Finally, being eligible for a large loan doesn't mean you should take it. Leave room in your monthly budget for emergencies, school fees, medical costs and the possibility of interest rates rising. If you would like help matching a realistic budget to MUDA-approved plots or houses in Mysuru, the Siddaganga Real Estate team in JP Nagar can walk you through the options, including home-loan assistance, without any pressure.