Finland: 60% of net income, but stressed
Finland allows stressed debt servicing of up to 60% of net monthly income, the most generous headline figure of any country on this calculator, and the most misleading if you read it as a limit on the payment you would actually make.
The word doing the work is stressed. The Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority's recommendation, in force from the start of 2023, tests the servicing cost of all your debts at a higher interest rate and over a 25-year repayment, not at your contracted rate and term. A 30-year loan at a low fixed rate is therefore assessed as a shorter, dearer one, and the notional payment that goes into the 60% can be well above the real one. The limit binds sooner than the number suggests, which is why the comfortable band here sits at 45% rather than at 60%.
It is a supervisory recommendation rather than a statute, but Finnish lenders follow it, so treat it as the operative ceiling. Income is assessed after tax: enter your take-home pay, not your gross salary, or the ratio will come out roughly a third too flattering.
The stress test also explains why paying down a short, expensive consumer loan helps more here than the same money against a mortgage. The mortgage is already being tested at an inflated payment; the consumer loan is counted close to its face value.