If your monthly take-home pay was £4,500...

[mronion]

...what would be the maximum amount you were prepared to spend on rent/mortgage a month? One child, no childcare costs, commuting costs of circa £400 p/month, no car, no other major outgoings apart from food and all the usual utilities.

And would you think, given the above, that that was a lot to live on or not very much?

Trying to settle a debate with DSIL.

Depends on where you are. £1500 pm would get you a lot of house in some areas of the country and a small flat in zone 6 if you are in London. So you have to spend more if you want something better (location or size) in the south.

No more than £1,800

£2K for mortgage

800-1100 on rent max or 1800 on mortgage but depends on the area , only 1 child then only need 2 bedrooms really so completely depends on area. I would also be trying to get the travel cost down either by relocating closer or by getting a car.

When I was earning net 5000 per month, my mortgage costs were 3250 per month.
I didn't have a child, but my bills were about 1000 (everything on monthly DD so no unexpected outgoings) leaving me 750 for food and going out.
So, at 4500 and 3 of you, I'd probably happily go to 2500.

On a similar income and mortgage is currently £1113. Live in the south east and just fixed for 5 years so hopefully will overpay as much as possible.

1-1.5k

£1800 max to allow for a really nice buffer.

£2000
You'd still have more left over than we have before paying our mortgage for 2 adults and 3 DC and we are comfortable.
I wouldn't go beyond £2000 as you want to have room to allow for interest rate rises.

Sorry all, I wasn't very clear - this is one adult, supporting one other adult and one DC. No childcare costs. So just the one salary bringing in 4.5k.

And in the SE btw, so expensive.

The commuting cost is for a train into London, so not much can really be done about that without taking a mahoosive salary cut.

I'm in a commuter town, so probably I would be happy to pay up to £1000/month in mortgage payments for a decent property, but I would also overpay or save at least another £1000 a month to pay it off early or as an emergency fund. That would still leave me £2.5k a month before other expenses and I would be very comfortable on that cushion.

I would say 2k

With a fixed interest rate at current rates, no more than about £1500/month, which is roughly a third of income. Won't get you particularly far in many regions in the SE.

Anywhere within commuting distance of London I would think you need to spend about 2K a month to have anything bigger than a 2 bed flat.

Depending how far out of London it may not even get you a 3 bed semi for that amount.

But I wouldn't want to spend more than 2K a month on housing. Utilities, travel, health-related costs (like needing to get taxis for a while because one person broke a leg/arm etc), clothes, upkeep on a house etc can all mount up very quickly, and it's always worth putting at least 10% into savings each month.

Have pensions been factored in?

To give a very rough estimate, btw, with that amount you're looking at house prices of around £250-300k, depending on down payment, credit, interest rates, etc. Which is really not going to buy you much in many towns in the SE.

How old is the child? Do you need to be in a particular catchment for school?

not more than £1,000, but preferably less

£1500 max

DH brings in a similar net salary, and I stay at home with two children. Similar commuting costs. We do have a car and we pay for DS2 to attend a day nursery twice a week. Mortgage is around £1600/math. We manage and have a good quality of life, but not currently saving much and will fee the pinch if interest rates rise (although I’ll hopefully be earning within a couple of years). We are SE too.

If the net salary is £4500, gross annual salary is around £80k. Anyone who says this isn't much to live off is kidding themselves. It is a huge salary by national standards. And I say that as someone who earns around the same.

I think in any case, £4500 is a lot to live on. Maybe if the mortgage was £2000+ per month, there might have to be some lifestyle compromises but, reading between the lines, I'm guessing that someone is claiming to be 'not rich/comfortable' due to their 'massive mortgage' not leaving much for fun stuff?

Are these people in the same financial position in terms of income and other outgoings as when the mortgage was approved? If that is the case, then they would have been stressed tested to much higher interest rates, so they currently should be in a very good position.

And even if the income has gone down and outgoings have gone up, for example because of the arrival of a DC and one parent SAH, then they should still be OK, but might need to think a bit carefully if they have been used to spending more freely.

If they are struggling, perhaps they should review all their finances to see if they can cut back on utilities, check other bills etc, and shop around to make their money go further.

Same as others up to 1.5k.

Probably about 1500. Maybe 1800.

My initial thought was 2000 but then I thought it wouldn't leave much for holidays and days/evenings out which is personally important to me.