What does PMI cost on a $750k house with 3% down?
On a $750,000 home with 3% down, the loan is $727,500 and PMI costs about $515 a month. It is charged until the balance falls below $600,000, which takes roughly 11.1 years of normal payments, for $63,283 in total. Putting $150,000 down instead needs $127,500 more at closing and avoids all of it.
Private mortgage insurance is quoted monthly, which is what makes it easy to wave through. $515 sounds like a rounding error next to a $4,598 mortgage payment. The number that matters is that you pay it for 11.1 years, and it adds up to $63,283. It buys you nothing: it insures the LENDER against your default, and you pay the premium.
It is charged on the loan balance rather than the home's value, at 0.85% a year here. Because the balance falls every month, the monthly charge drifts down slightly as you go, which is why the total is not simply the monthly figure times the number of months.
Now the part most explanations get wrong. PMI ends automatically when your loan balance drops below 80% of what you PAID for the house, which here is $600,000. It is not based on what the house is worth today. If your home appreciates 20% next year, the automatic cancellation date does not move at all. The common shorthand, "it stops once you have 20% equity", is wrong in the direction that costs you money.
You do have a second route. You can ASK your lender to cancel once current value supports it, which usually means paying for an appraisal and meeting conditions on payment history. That path is worth knowing about precisely because the automatic one ignores appreciation, and in a rising market the gap between the two dates can be several years of premiums.
The table is the real argument about down payments, stated as money rather than as advice. Going from 3% to 20% on this house means $127,500 more at closing and avoids $63,283 of premiums over 11.1 years. Whether that is a good trade depends on what the cash would otherwise do, and on whether waiting to save it means buying later at a different price. It is a real trade with two sides, not a rule.
Paying extra principal shortens it, and that is the one lever fully in your control. Every additional dollar against the balance moves the cancellation date closer, and unlike most prepayment it has a defined finish line: the day the balance passes $600,000 you stop paying $515 a month, permanently.
What this leaves out: FHA loans, whose mortgage insurance follows different rules and on most current FHA loans lasts the life of the loan rather than ending at 80%; lender-paid PMI, which trades the premium for a higher interest rate; and the fact that real PMI rates range from about 0.3% to 1.5% depending on credit score, so your quote may differ from the 0.85% used here.
Down payment vs outcome
The same question at every down payment, so you can use the one you believe.
| Down payment | Total PMI on a $750,000 home |
|---|---|
| 3%this page | $63,283 over 11.1 yrs |
| 5% | $58,192 over 10.3 yrs |
| 10% | $43,123 over 7.9 yrs |
| 15% | $24,593 over 4.7 yrs |
| 20% | none |
PMI at 0.85% a year of the loan balance, a 6.50% 30-year mortgage, and no extra principal. It ends when the balance passes 80% of the PURCHASE price, not of the current value, so appreciation does not cancel it on its own.
Assumptions
- Home Price
- 750000
- Down Payment Percent
- 3
- Loan Amount
- 727500
- Pmi Rate
- 0.9%
- Pmi Monthly
- 515
- Pmi Months
- 133
- Pmi Total
- 63283
- Cancels At Balance
- 600000
- Mortgage Rate
- 6.5%
- Mortgage Years
- 30 yr
Frequently asked
How much is PMI on a $750k house with 3% down?
About $515 a month on a $727,500 loan, at 0.85% a year of the balance. It runs roughly 11.1 years and totals about $63,283. Your actual rate depends on credit score and can range from about 0.3% to 1.5%.
When does PMI stop?
Automatically, when the loan balance falls below 80% of the ORIGINAL purchase price, which is $600,000 here and takes about 11.1 years of scheduled payments. Not when you have 20% equity at today's value. Those are different dates, and in a rising market they can be years apart.
Does my home appreciating cancel PMI?
Not automatically. Automatic termination runs off the original value, so appreciation does not move that date. You can request cancellation based on current value, which typically requires paying for an appraisal and a clean payment history, and the lender is not obliged to agree.
Is it worth waiting to put 20% down?
It is a real trade rather than a rule. Here it means $127,500 more at closing against $63,283 of premiums avoided over 11.1 years. Against that, waiting to save the difference may mean buying later at a different price, and the cash could be doing something else. Both sides are real.
Can I get rid of it faster?
Yes, by paying down principal. Every extra dollar moves the $600,000 threshold closer, and the payoff is unusually clean: on the day you cross it, $515 a month stops permanently. That is a defined return on prepayment, which most prepayment does not have.
Keep going
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