NYC Affordability

Why the rate caps your price, not just your payment

Every NYC purchase is capped by a debt-to-income (DTI) ceiling: 28% of gross monthly income for a typical co-op board, and 43% for a typical conventional condo lender. That ceiling fixes how much you can spend each month on housing. Subtract the building’s monthly charges (maintenance for a co-op; common charges, property tax, and insurance for a condo), and what’s left is the most you can put toward mortgage principal and interest.

The mortgage rate decides how big a loan that fixed monthly budget buys. When rates rise, the same budget supports a smaller loan, and your maximum purchase price falls, even though your income, savings, and the building haven’t changed.

Where rates are now

Freddie Mac’s weekly survey put the 30-year fixed average at 6.95% on September 17, 2026, up from 6.71% at the start of the month and about 6.3% in late April. Bankrate’s separate lender survey showed a similar jump, to its highest level since February 2025. This site’s calculators now default to 6.95%. Your own quoted rate will differ with credit score, loan size (jumbo loans price differently), points, and property type.

What each rate buys: the same income at different rates

The table uses this site’s default assumptions: 20% down, a 30-year fixed loan, $1,200/month co-op maintenance, and $2,325/month in condo common charges, property tax, and insurance. It shows the maximum price the DTI ceiling allows on a $150,000 household income:

30-year rate	Monthly P&I per $100K borrowed	Max co-op price (28% DTI)	Max condo price (43% DTI)
5.50%	$568	$506,000	$671,000
6.00%	$600	$480,000	$636,000
6.30%	$619	$464,000	$616,000
6.95%	$662	$434,000	$576,000
7.50%	$699	$411,000	$545,000

Going from April’s ~6.3% to September’s 6.95% cut this buyer’s maximum co-op price by about $30,000 and their maximum condo price by about $40,000. As a rule of thumb from the table, each half-point of rate is worth roughly 5% of buying power at these assumptions.

These are DTI-only figures. They don’t check whether you also have the cash for the down payment, closing costs, and (for a co-op) post-closing reserves. See the income-needed guide for how the two limits interact, or look up a specific income on the What Can I Afford by Income pages.

The same price at different rates: the income you need

Flip the question around. To buy an $800,000 apartment with 20% down, here’s the gross income the DTI ceiling requires:

30-year rate	Co-op (28% DTI)	Condo (43% DTI)
6.00%	$215,900	$172,000
6.30%	$221,200	$175,400
6.95%	$233,000	$183,100
7.50%	$243,200	$189,800

The co-op column moves faster because a board’s 28% ceiling magnifies every extra dollar of monthly payment: each $1 of added P&I requires about $3.57 of added monthly income, versus about $2.33 under a 43% lender ceiling. Tighter DTI limits make co-op buyers more sensitive to rate changes, not less. See the full $800K purchase breakdown for cash needs at today’s default rate.

What rates don’t change

• Building charges. Maintenance and common charges take the same bite out of your DTI budget at any rate. In a high-charge building, a rate drop helps less, because a smaller share of your budget goes to the mortgage in the first place.
• The DTI ceiling itself. A rate cut doesn’t loosen a co-op board’s 28% rule. It only means that 28% buys more.
• Closing taxes. Mortgage recording tax and the mansion tax are set by loan size and price, not by rate. A higher rate that shrinks your loan does shrink your recording tax, though.

Should you wait for rates to fall?

Nobody can reliably time rates, and prices can move in the other direction while you wait. A more useful approach: find the maximum price at today’s rate, and buy only what works at that rate. If rates later fall, refinancing is an option. In New York, a refinance can often use a CEMA to avoid paying most of the mortgage recording tax a second time. Run your own numbers at a few different rates in the condo and co-op calculators to see how much room you have if rates move against you.