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!

It’s hard to know from your post - what is your income and your outgoings?

Some people have lower outgoings so the amount will vary

Surely it totally depends on the area? A 3/4 bedroom house in my neighbourhood is upwards of £500k (and that's needing renovation work), but elsewhere similar would be more than affordable for me. A lot also depends on when you first property and if you've moved up the ladder with equity from a previous property sale or are trying to start on the ladder at 3/4 bedrooms. There's no way I could have afforded my current property if my previous one hadn't gone up in value giving me a larger deposit.

Also a lot of people have company cars!

We had a household income of £80k when we lived in LDN and we couldn't afford anything like this.

What do you class as a nice house? We live in a a mid terrace, no driveway, 5 beds / three bath, worth almost a million (not London). I love it but is not what some people would choose.

most flash cars are on credit. We earn over £100k between us but wouldn’t even consider splurging on a car, we walk /cycle almost everywhere during the week And only use the car at weekends.

@thefirsttest I "bought from scratch" in London, didn't have "family money" and bought 7 years ago. Not in 1 percentile either.

DP and I have a joint income of about 90k, he has a company car and my car is about 8 years old.

We have two teenage children and can only afford to go on a foreign holiday every other year.

Our house is a large 3 bed semi, with a largish garden in a really beautiful market town, but there is no wow factor. We moved to get into the catchment area of the school we wanted about 7 years ago, the house has gone up in value about £200k in this time, but we’re not planning on moving anytime so it’s all relative.

We eat out as a couple once a month, and probably take the kids out once or twice a month.

We definitely do not live an extravagant lifestyle although unlike some others we are very lucky not to have to worry about bills etc.

I reckon to have the kind of lifestyle you mention we would need an income of about £120K!!

I earn nothing. I'm on Carer's Allowance. My husband earns just shy of £40k. We live in a 5 bed detached in Yorkshire, having built up equity in a smaller property, which we sold.

It's not all about what you earn.

This.

Where I live (Essex) a lot of people have small 3 bed ex council houses (small beds) and drive flash cars like range rovers and mercs. I'm fairly sure their income is less than ours but they don't tend to go on foreign holidays and their houses are much smaller than ours so I think it's what you prioritise. We've got an old VW which is bashed about so maybe we look poor (don't care). I wouldn't describe our area as 'nice' as there are pockets of deprivation too but it's definitely what you choose to spend it on.

Location? I lived in a detached four bed/four reception house with in and out drive and pool. Where I live now the direct value would have bought me a nice one bedroom flat.
Yes the running costs were higher, but flats often have service charges of £2-3000/year and that buys quite a bit of gas and electricity.
£40k where I was, £60k where I am. I wouldn't be able to buy either property on that though - I own outright. My neighbours pay £36k in rent. Three bed terrace.

We have this. 3 bed in the SE, 1 older car and 1 premium car, 1 child, on 90k household income

@BraOffForTea will be top 9% when DH starts his new job. We could afford to upgrade to a 3 bed flat in zone 3 London. No car. Shop at Aldi..

But there are people on lower incomes than us who have nice cars..most of the renters in our development have Mercedes. We choose not to so that we don't have any fixed costs other than mortgage, gas, electricity and public transport (which we have to use anyway due to work).

£550k could probably be enough for a 3 bed house somewhere in the home counties rather than a flat in London, not in St Alban's or Guildford but probably in a less popular town, and the bank would probably let me do that and not take transport into consideration. However, the commuting fares for two would definitely increase my living costs significantly and no way to fix it like a mortgage so I would rather take the flat in London..

£45k. Single parent, working full time, middle of the country. 4 bed bought with deposit from 30 years of saving and going without. Old banger car with lots of dents. So I don't completely meet your criteria but doing OK.

I think £100k+ annual household income should get that lifestyle (outside of London). Being able to afford the fancy car is one thing, but can you then afford the £500 service? Or £2000 parts? Again, affording to buy a nice house is one thing - but the maintenance can be colossal.

We live in a lovely house with huge gardens, both drive really nice cars and holiday 4/5 times a year, both high earners.
BUT we live in a very nice area in Wales where the house prices are no where near most English city prices, 100's less.
It's not how much you earn OP it is where you live really I think.

@easyday flat service charges do cover the roof and guttering which house owners have to save up for. Also many flats are in urban areas where the difference between a flat and house of the same size can be as much as £200k! Or in the case of London, you have to pay higher commuting fares if you move further out to get a house...that is easily £4k per year.

Its both. My friend in yorkshire lives in a place with 100k houses but she couldn't get a mortgage for a 90k house despite earning over 20k because her job was contract and her DH was self employed (and he also earned around 20k). my DH and I managed to get a mortgage for a london flat even though the multiple for our mortgage was much much more and we were borrowing much more. Its why our outgoings are the same even though she lives in yorkshire and i live in north london.

I mean, the mortgage calculator works the same wherever part of the country you are in; if there were that many couples with decent permanent jobs in the area, the houses would be a lot more than 100k right.

Depends. What area geographically but if you want a nice car which means good spec and relatively new, I would suggest household income is not less than £100k.

Nice house over a modest 20 years will also fit in there nicely price wise.

Joint income of £80k, 4 bed house in semi rural area we love, drive a 10 year old car that is reliable and indestructible, no holiday abroad since early 2020 but that's Covid related and we take mini breaks a few times a year, childcare not extortionate where we are thankfully and we're comfortably saving £1k a month at the moment to cover my second maternity leave at the end of the year.

However, we don't spend a lot on clothes or accessories, we have no pets, we don't drink much and have a 1 year old so don't go out much at the moment, we get books from our local library, we buy furniture from local auctions, we cook a lot from scratch and batch cook recipes we like, we're as happy with a cheap takeaway as a sit down fancy meal (though have a nice meal out for special occasions) and I love finding ways to get a bargain. My best one was a brand new Kenwood Chef for £45 by the time I'd added all the discounts and cashbacks.

I had a Range Rover when I was younger and it was there most temperamental thing I ever drove and cost a fortune to fix. Sold it and got a Honda Civic and never looked back.

It depends largely on where you live & if you bought a house & when you bought it.

A 3/4 bed house where I am is now 1.2m-1.5m

Mmm £100k ++ I would say in south anyway. Add more kids & private education and it's considerably more. Depends what you mean by nice though - everything is a compromise in the end unless you are a multi-millionaire, or willing to live in a house of cards.

Another thought, i think the IFS survey may only count PAYE earners. I don't think many people would put in their income from BTL, investments, dividends etc into that calculator. As it may be quite variable. People who have their own business may also reinvest their profits in their business.

The vast majority of wealthy people are not PAYE earners outside of some professions like banking, law etc.Most rich people have their own business or even if they don't, they derive a significant percentage of their income from their investments.

To quote warren buffett, “If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”

So it makes sense that being in the top 10% of PAYE earners will not classify you as a rich person or allow you to have a luxury lifestyle. In a capitalist society, the rich are owners of capital, not 'elite' workers..

So it makes sense that being in the top 10% of PAYE earners will not classify you as a rich person or allow you to have a luxury lifestyle. In a capitalist society, the rich are owners of capital, not 'elite' workers..

agree