Calculating the principal and interest on your mortgage helps you identify the actual cost of a property. If you have a $400,000 loan at a 30-year fixed rate of 5%, the amount you spend after 30 years isn’t $400,000. It’s actually $773,158. $400,000 will go toward your principal, while the other $373,158 will go toward your interest.

When you buy a home with a fixed interest rate, your monthly mortgage payment will be the same for the duration of your loan. However, even though you’re writing a check for the same amount every month, how much you put toward your principal and interest will always be different. 

In this post, we’ll define what your principal and interest payments are on a mortgage and show you have to calculate how much a house will cost you to make a more informed decision when purchasing a property. We’ll also discuss the difference between APR and your interest rate, what factors impact your interest rate, and how to track where your fixed-rate mortgage payments are going. 

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