How much do you earn to live in nice area in a 3/4 bed house and drive a ‘nice’ car?

[BraOffForTea]

Just wondering. I thought I earned enough and having had a look online it seems I am in a high percentile of earnings. But I am unable to live lavishly at all - old car, small but nice home. Absolutely nothing special. I don’t necessarily aspire to have more things but I do wonder what you need to earn to drive a new Merc and so on. If I can’t do that in the top 8 percentile how do people manage it?! I worry about bills and often have beans on toast for tea!

Around £62k per annum.

That should do it.

Sorry that was a typo- should have read £65k

My friends who have this (though have a 3 bed) and a Range Rover earn £186,000

I don't think it always comes down to just earnings.

You never know how much debt people have, how much help they had to buy their property so reducing mortgage payments. Or inheritance etc etc
Personally myself and Dh earn just over £100,000 a year so could technically afford a new Mercedes' or similar on finance but I'm not comfortable paying out over £400 a month in finance for something just to make it look like we have money!

I was going to say that “I don’t live in the SE” (😊) but then you mentioned Mercs, and I suspect that your definition of “nice” is probably higher spec than mine, since I drive a Golf, which I consider to be nice.

£90k, ish

Household income of £65k. Can be more if lots of overtime done . Could afford a nicer car but choose not to as cars not important to us . Much rather treat ourselves to days out .
Remember it's very subjective though . We are very lucky / fortunate to have this income in our area.

Ex had a nice car as it was a perk of his job.

This is so subjective! I have a big house (5 bed), but it's rented. I drive an older, but nice enough, reliable car.

We earn around £55k per year, but receive some additional income from disability benefits for our disabled child.

We live in the SE. It will genuinely be different for everyone!

With housing it depends when you bought. I bought my house 10 years ago in an area where prices have increased so may be paying less mortgage than someone who has just moved recently.

Household income around 65k - can't afford "nice " cars or holidays. Live in London suburbs.
We do have 2 old bangers, and holidays are usually a week in UK or 4-5 days somewhere AirbnB in Europe. Haven't done a 2 week holiday for 25 years!

We’re in outer London. For that lifestyle I’d say you need to be earning about £160k to be comfortably well off.

I used to have nice cars when I was full time and we had joint income of about £100k+
We now muddle along on £65k joint plus some BTL income, but high childcare costs. It’s a bit seat of our pants most months to balance things but it has an end to it.
Without the childcare we’d be ok so I’d say £65k+

Agree with others that it is subjective. I live in a good sized 4 bed house in a nice area, but not in the SE. There are lovely places up north where you don't have to sell your granny to attain a nice house. I could buy a nice car but I'm happy with my little Nissan. We still have childcare costs and one credit card with a small amount on, but we get by on a combined income of around £50k.

How much is a "nice" house? Because round here you can get a 4 bed detached with garage for 250k. And in the really posh area, you are looking at 350-400k.
That is a totally different ball game to southern prices.
We are exceedingly comfortable on 72k between us, however on this recent thread people are saying they are struggling on 90k.

SE/ London border. We live in a nice 3 bed, in a nice area and have a new car (work taxable benefit). Eat out/ get takeaway once a week, no hols abroad since early 2019.

Joint income of £150k plus bonuses. After paying our nanny and mortgage we break even each month.

My sister and her partner earn approx £200k between them - live in a 'nice' house in zone 6, don't drive an especially 'nice' car but could if they wanted to. Can't afford school fees though.

Depends where you live in the country. We have a large 4 bed house… it cost £250k. Couldn’t even get a 2 bed flat for that in London. We also have a decent car… it’s a company car.

I don't think it's comparable. How can you compare the way I live with anyone else? It's just not the same. Depends if you are a high earner, young kids?

I only work part time, 2 late teens, we don't live lavishly but I buy what I want in the supermarket, we own our 2 hybrid cars outright, small house nothing special, mortgage coming to an end, caravan in Dorset, all inclusive cheap holiday to Majorca/Ibiza every other year.

How Dh and I choose to live is probably unlike most of the posters above me.

Live in the SE in only 2 bed house in 'nice' semi- rural location. New car on lease, 2 older cars worth nothing. Income of £250k pretax.

Also - house prices are so variable. My 3 beds with moderate garden abs superb schools in a sought after area of S/W Yorks, would cost several times as much in leafy London suburbs.

I’m in a four-bed, desirable location,(zone 2 London) terraced house. Joint salaries of 65k. Don’t own a car, though. If I did, I wouldn’t buy new and it wouldn’t be a Merc.

OP, you’re in the top eighth centile and “often eat beans on toast for tea”? So what’s your monthly income and why can’t you afford to eat a more varied diet?

Two high earners splitting costs helps a huge amount. I'd not have half the lifestyle living alone on my salary.

A lot of people in London aren't paying for their house out of income - it's family money, or they bought a long time ago when it was affordable. To buy a house from scratch you need to be in the top 1%. But then, most people drive normal cars, or don't drive at all, and a new Merc would be considered suspicious.