The answer will depend on how much you require for other living expenses.  One thing you certainly do not want to do is make yourself ‘house poor’ or ‘payment poor’ so that you cannot afford the quality of life you envisioned in your new home.

As a rule of thumb, your monthly house payment, including principal, interest, taxes and insurance, should not be more than one third of your gross income.  Of course, you should adjust this figure for unusual or extraordinary monthly expenses such as special schooling, unusual health care expenses, and so forth.