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Mortgage calculator for Bay Area condos — with the real HOA fee

Every other calculator leaves the HOA fee blank, so it tells you a payment that is $463 a month short. This one starts from the dues actually recorded for condos in your city, adds California property tax and insurance, and shows you how much of the payment isn't the mortgage at all.

30-year fixed averaged 6.65% the week of 2026-08-20 (Freddie Mac PMMS). Dues from 8 cities of recorded sales · updated Aug 27, 2026

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The HOA fee is the number that breaks the estimate

A national calculator has no way to know what a specific building charges, so it defaults the fee to zero and quietly understates a condo payment by the largest single line item after the mortgage itself. These are the dues actually recorded on condo sales in each city — not survey estimates — so you can start from a number that is at least the right size before you have the building's own figure.

CityMedian duesAdds to a 30-yr payment likeOver 5 years
San Francisco$716/mo$111,533 more house$42,960
Emeryville$575/mo$89,569 more house$34,500
Oakland$535/mo$83,338 more house$32,100
Alameda$463/mo$72,122 more house$27,780
Fremont$457/mo$71,188 more house$27,420
San Leandro$448/mo$69,786 more house$26,880
Berkeley$408/mo$63,555 more house$24,480
Hayward$390/mo$60,751 more house$23,400

Read the middle column as the trade you are actually making: at 6.65%, the dues on a typical San Francisco condo cost the same each month as roughly $111,533 of additional purchase price would. That is the borrowing power a high-fee building takes off the table.

Where today's rate actually sits

The 30-year fixed averaged 6.65% in the week of 2026-08-20, 2 basis points below the week before. That is near the top of its 12-month range of 5.98%–6.69%, against a one-year average of 6.32% and a three-year average of 6.67%. The 15-year fixed averaged 5.95%.

52-week low
5.98%
This week
6.65%
1-year average
6.32%
52-week high
6.69%

This is Freddie Mac's weekly lender survey — a national average for a well-qualified borrower at roughly 20% down. It is the yardstick your own Loan Estimate should be measured against, not a rate you can be given. The useful comparison is almost never today's average versus last month's; it is lender A versus lender B on the same afternoon, where the spread is routinely wider than a month of movement in this line.

What this doesn't do

It does not quote you a rate, and it is not a pre-approval. No lender pays us anything, and nothing you type here is sent anywhere — the whole calculator runs in your browser. Property tax uses California's typical effective rate including voter-approved bonds rather than your assessed bill, insurance is a flat placeholder you should replace with a real quote, and PMI is estimated from loan-to-value alone when your real premium will also price off your credit score. Once you have actual Loan Estimates, the Loan Estimate comparator is the page that tells you which one is genuinely cheapest.

⚖️Compare your Loan EstimatesWhich quote is actually cheapest, and the break-even between them.🧮Is that HOA fee normal?Check any fee against thousands of real buildings.🏷️Condos priced under compsWhere the payment buys the most right now.
📌 Cite this data (free — a link is all we ask)

The median Bay Area condo HOA fee adds $463/mo to a mortgage payment — about $27,780 over five years, Stealpad (Aug 27, 2026).

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Source: <a href="https://stealpad.com/tools/mortgage-calculator/">Stealpad</a> — The median Bay Area condo HOA fee adds $463/mo to a mortgage payment — about $27,780 over five years. Aug 27, 2026.

Frequently asked

How much is the monthly payment on a $700,000 condo in the Bay Area?
At this week's 6.65% 30-year average with 20% down, principal and interest on a $700,000 condo runs about $3,595 a month. That is not the payment. Add roughly $758 in property tax, $50 in insurance, and the HOA fee — a median of $463 a month across the buildings we track — and the real number is closer to $4,866.
Why is my condo payment so much higher than the mortgage calculator said?
Almost always the HOA fee. Most calculators leave it blank or at zero because they have no way to know it, and for a Bay Area condo that is a $463-a-month hole in the estimate — about $27,780 over five years. Property tax at the real effective rate and PMI below 20% down are the other two. On a condo, the mortgage is often only about two-thirds of what you actually pay each month.
What HOA fee should I use in a mortgage calculator?
The building's actual fee, if you have it. If you are still shopping, use the measured median for the city: Alameda about $463, Berkeley about $408, Emeryville about $575, Fremont about $457. Those come from dues recorded on real condo sales, not estimates. The HOA fee calculator shows the full range so you can see how wide it gets.
What mortgage rate should I use?
This page defaults to 6.65%, the Freddie Mac PMMS 30-year average for the week of 2026-08-20. That survey measures a well-qualified borrower at about 20% down, so treat it as a yardstick rather than your rate. Over the last year it has ranged 5.98% to 6.69%. Once you have real Loan Estimates in hand, compare those instead — the spread between lenders on the same day is routinely larger than the change in the national average over a month.
How much income do I need to buy a condo here?
Lenders typically want your total housing payment — mortgage, tax, insurance and HOA — at or under about 28% of gross monthly income, and total debts under about 36%. The calculator prints the income that implies for whatever numbers you enter. Because HOA dues count toward that ratio, a high-fee building can cost you meaningfully more borrowing power than the same price in a low-fee one.
Does a high HOA fee reduce how much house I can buy?
Yes, directly. Underwriters add the full HOA fee to your housing expense, so every $100 of monthly dues removes roughly $15,000–$17,000 of purchase price at current rates. Two identical condos at the same price are not the same loan if one charges $400 a month and the other charges $900.