The loan a lender may offer based on net income and repayment capacity.
Eligible loan
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Payment available
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Total repayable
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The two questions every lender asks first
A Nigerian bank or mortgage house does not start by asking what house you want. It asks two things in order: how much of your monthly income can safely go to a loan repayment, and how much loan does that repayment buy at today's rates. This calculator answers both. It caps repayment at a share of your net monthly income, subtracts what you already owe on other loans, and converts the leftover into the largest mortgage that payment can service over your chosen term.
That ordering matters because the loan figure is an output, not an input. Your income sets a monthly payment ceiling. Only after the rate and the term are applied does that ceiling become a naira amount. Two people earning the same salary can be offered wildly different loans simply because one carries a car loan and the other does not, or because one asked for a 15-year term and the other for 25.
Why the rate does so much of the damage
Mortgage rates in Nigeria sit high because the cost of money itself is high. The Central Bank of Nigeria's monetary policy rate has been elevated, around 27.5 percent in the figures used across this site, and commercial lending prices off that anchor. The 28 percent default in this tool reflects that reality rather than any subsidised scheme. When the policy rate moves, retail mortgage offers move with it, so the eligible loan a calculator shows you this quarter can shift next quarter even if your salary has not changed.
A NGN 1.5 million earner, worked through
Using the tool's defaults: net income of NGN 1,500,000 a month, existing obligations of NGN 200,000, a 28 percent rate, a 20-year term, and a maximum repayment ratio of 33 percent. A third of NGN 1,500,000 is NGN 495,000, the most the lender will let you spend on loan repayments in total. Take off the NGN 200,000 you already pay elsewhere and NGN 295,000 a month is free for the new mortgage. At 28 percent over 20 years, that payment supports a loan of about NGN 12,592,999. Here is the part borrowers miss: across the full 240 months you hand back NGN 70,800,000. The interest alone is roughly NGN 58.2 million, close to five and a half times the sum you borrowed.
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The chart shows the gap that high rates open up: a modest principal sitting under a mountain of interest.
The fastest way to borrow more
Most people try to raise their eligible loan by stretching the term, but that mainly piles on interest. The quicker lever is the obligations line. Every naira of existing repayment you clear flows straight into the available payment, and because that payment is multiplied through the loan formula, the eligible amount jumps by far more than the obligation you removed. Paying off a NGN 200,000 monthly car loan before you apply can lift your borrowing headroom by several million naira. Lenders also read net income conservatively, so allowances that are not guaranteed may be discounted, and a clean record of on-time repayments helps your case as much as the raw numbers.
Treat the output as a ceiling, not a target. Just because a lender will advance NGN 12.6 million does not mean a NGN 295,000 monthly commitment for 20 years is comfortable once rent, school fees, and fuel are accounted for. Borrowing below the maximum leaves room for the rate to drift up at review without breaking your budget.
Does this figure include my deposit and fees?
No. The number is the loan a lender may advance against your income. The property price you can afford is that loan plus whatever deposit you bring. Set aside extra for legal fees, the deed of assignment stamp duty, valuation, and the lender's own charges, none of which are baked into this estimate. The affordability and mortgage tools linked above help you stitch the full picture together.
Why did my bank offer less than the calculator shows?
Lenders apply their own underwriting. Some use a stricter repayment ratio than 33 percent, some exclude variable allowances from net income, and some cap the term by your age at the loan's end. Affordability also has to clear an internal stress test at a rate above the one you are quoted. Use this estimate to set expectations, then let the bank's offer letter be the binding figure.