DSCR Loan Calculator
DSCR Loan Calculator
Debt service coverage ratio for rental property loans — NOI and PITIA methods, plus max loan at your target ratio.
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Professional Financial Tools
7/28/2026
Taxes + insurance + management + maintenance + HOA — excluding mortgage P&I
Most DSCR lenders require 1.0–1.25; some go as low as 0.75 at a rate premium
Search for a DSCR loan calculator and nearly every result is a private lender's lead-generation tool — enter your numbers, get a "see your rate" button and a call from a loan officer. This DSCR loan calculator is different: no signup, no rate quote, no phone call. Just the math, computed two ways, entirely in your browser.
The debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) measures whether a rental property's own income covers its own debt payment, independent of your personal income. It's the core underwriting metric for DSCR loans — a category of investor financing that qualifies you on the property's cash flow rather than your W-2 or tax returns.
Enter your rent, vacancy assumption, operating expenses, and loan terms below to see your DSCR under both methods lenders actually use, whether you clear a typical 1.25 target, and the maximum loan this property's income would support.
There isn't one universal DSCR formula. Private DSCR lenders split roughly into two camps, so this calculator computes both:
The two methods can produce meaningfully different ratios on the same deal, so if a lender has quoted you a number, check which formula they used before comparing it to what you see here.
$2,000/month rent, 5% vacancy, $7,200/year operating expenses, $240,000 loan at 7.5% over 30 years, $3,000 tax + $1,500 insurance:
This example is deliberately a fail case, because it's the more instructive one — it shows exactly how a lender's math can reject a deal that looks fine on a rent roll. Raise the rent to $2,600/month with the same expenses and the NOI-method DSCR climbs to roughly 1.13, and to about 1.9 at $3,200/month — illustrating how sensitive DSCR is to rent, not just to the loan terms.
Most DSCR lenders use these rough bands:
| DSCR | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Below 1.0 | Rent doesn't cover the debt payment — most lenders decline, or require a much larger down payment |
| 1.0 – 1.20 | Breaks even to thin margin — some lenders accept this at a rate premium |
| 1.25 | The most common minimum target among DSCR programs |
| 1.25+ | Comfortable cushion — often qualifies for the lender's best DSCR pricing tier |
DSCR loans generally don't require personal income or employment verification the way a conventional mortgage does, which is the whole appeal for investors with several properties or non-traditional income. In exchange, rates typically run a percentage point or more above a conventional investment-property loan, and most programs still expect 20-25% down.
It's a quick screening heuristic — not a lender requirement — that says monthly rent should be at least 1% of the purchase price (e.g., $3,000/month on a $300,000 property). Properties that clear the 1% rule usually, but not always, produce a healthy DSCR; it's a filter for deals worth running full numbers on, not a substitute for the calculation.
Most programs require 20-25% down, though some go as low as 15% for borrowers with strong DSCR ratios and credit. Lower down payments typically come paired with rate or fee premiums.
Divide the property's net operating income (or gross rent, depending on the lender's method) by the annual debt service on the proposed loan. A result above 1.0 means the property's income covers the payment; most lenders want 1.25 or higher.
Higher interest rates than conventional financing, larger down payment requirements, and prepayment penalties are common on DSCR products. They also qualify strictly on the property's cash flow — a great personal financial profile won't rescue a deal with weak rental income.
Many DSCR lenders now underwrite short-term/vacation rental income, though some require a market-rent appraisal or a track record of bookings rather than projected Airbnb revenue. Policies vary significantly by lender.
See how skipping principal payments raises your DSCR vs. a fully amortized loan.
Simple capitalization rate.
Cash flow, Cap Rate, and ROI.
Yield on actual cash invested.
Gross and net yield.
Model Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat with cash left in deal and CoC return.
Go deeper than the calculator — the full playbook, explained.
How to analyze a rental property in 2026 — cash flow, cap rate, cash-on-cash return, the 1% rule, BRRRR, and taxes — with worked examples and free calculators.
How DSCR loans work, the two formulas lenders actually use, what counts as a good ratio, interest-only DSCR math, requirements, and house hacking as an alternative. With calculators.