What would your budget be for a house with this income? income?

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So house has 100k equity this was our second home but very cheap 50 percent LTV. We want to significantly upsize we also have 30k we could put down on top. Household income of 150k which will rise over the next couple of years. We have seen a house for 525k my DH says it's too expensive but has everything we need.
My DH is very very risk adverse we pay right now £420 a month mortgage so I get its a jump.

I would say fine. Your mortgage won't even be 3 x income which is going back to multipliers in the 80s. Easily comfortable and affordable even with the rates as they are now.

I regret not having gone a little bit higher a couple of times on the property ladder.

I think he is being a bit risk adverse. Potentially you have a £130K deposit plus with your household income you could probably borrow at least 400k. Your current mortgage costs are pretty low - can you save more to get an healthier deposit?

Our mortgage is £1000 a month (admittedly we overpay by £250 per month) and our household income is is about £85k - it is perfectly affordable. That said we have no dependent children and do not run a car so our other outgoings are pretty low.

It’s all relative.

I mean, you currently have a very very low
mortgage v income so probably have a very nice lifestyle or put a lot into savings.

We’ve gone for house over much else, income c£100k, mortgage £1800pm, currently £400k in equity. But after bills and food and a few nice things there’s not much left to save or take holidays or live a champagne lifestyle. It’s tight.

We love our home though and wanted the kids to have a room each and plenty of space. When the youngest moves out we will downsize and be mortgage free, or at least that’s the plan.

It really depends on your priorities.

It's all relative though, isn't it? I would say you're more than fine, but dh and I have a combined income of a bit over £100k give or take depending on the year. Our house cost £820k and we have a monthly mortgage of £1600. The (much smaller, not as nice) house we were renting just before this is now being rented for the same pcm!

If my household income were £150,000 and set to increase, I would not hesitate to purchase a property for £525,000, not at all! But yeah, if my mortgage were £420 of course I'd be worried or scared about paying so much more. We are not averse to spending a lot on our accommodation, whether for rent or for mortgage.

Sounds like my dh , we have a lovely house but I'd like to move to one with more land and out buildings etc as does he . He earns really well and the mortgage is all but paid but he doesn't want to increase it by too much .
We have loads of savings and it feels like a waste not to put it into property .

The worse scenario is we would downsize so I don't see too much risk . We would have a good £800k in equity

I love that he is so sensible but also we are nearly 50 and i want to do it before we get too old to enjoy it .

So how much do you save of your income at the moment? Because £420pcm is a very low mortgage and unless you’re saving the difference between that and what an extra £400K mortgage would cost per month, then yes, you’ll struggle. Your household income is very healthy but what are your other outgoings? Childcare etc. I assume you’ve not been earning at this level long?

The answer to your question, I suppose, is £600,000, maybe £650,000. I say that because above £650,000 just feels like a hurdle, mentally – it feels in my mind that it is way too much money and I would probably need to convince myself, be convinced by my spouse, and do some solid workings out to feel really comfortable going ahead.

He’s being silly, you will make money on property. We’re on your salary, bought at £525K and now worth around £650K. Mortgage is easily manageable

Also, what’s the salary split between you and DH? If he’s nervous and he’s the major wage earner then you need to understand if he’s worried about job security. If it’s a more even split between you then the rusk is less.

Who earns what?

We're on a household income that's in the top 1%, but we wouldn't buy a house of that value currently.

You can on paper afford that house, however add in council tax / mortgage rates / bills etc it soon adds up. I'd rather have a house worth less and a better quality of life because I'm not worried about the increases in bills! It's all about balance and risk to me.

In our household our income is split to about 20% me 80% DH. We make decisions as a team, but I also recognise that it's a lot of pressure on him to be funding so much - his job is stable at the moment, but as with any highly paid high pressure role there's always risks. The higher your outgoings and house price, the more risk it only one of you is earning the big bucks. If it's split 50/50 then the responsibility is on both of you, it's probably less stressful.

What are our other out goings is the key here. Two lots of nursery and other commitments or hardly any at all?

He's hesitant towards putting more in deposit as he likes to keep a big big buffer outgoings are relatively low. The split is probably I earn 40 percent and he earns 60 percent of it.

What is the buffer for? Honestly – and posters after me might not like this – it sounds as though he just doesn't want to spend money. Okay, one must save, but your monthly mortgage payment in relation to your household income, plus your low outgoings and your equity all suggest you could go for the house you want without it being a stretch.

Are you saving for children's education, or something like that?

We have a similar household income and just bought a house for this price with only 10% deposit so a significant mortgage.

We are young enough to get a 30 year mortgage so that helps the repayments be manageable and have retained some other investments so it’s not all our savings.

This is hopefully the highest mortgage we will have but want to spend the next couple of years paying off as much as possible to get a better LTV when our 5 year fix comes to an end.

We don’t have kids- would maybe more budget conscious if we did, with all associated expenses.

I guess it depends on other commitments you have
On incomes of £60k and £90k and such a low current mortgage we would have thousands free each month to save
Are you not saving lots each month currently?
You'd have to work out what a mortgage of £425k would be over your preferred term as the £30k you have will be taken by stamp duty and moving costs some left over
I'm quite cautious and like to have a good amount of disposable income left to save and spend but even with a much higher mortgage you should still have this? But obviously childcare costs and private school fees can be huge so it may not be the case

I would go 3 times your annual salary, plus the equity.

Then I'd keep the 30k back.

How much are you saving a month currently? How much of a mortgage extra would that give you?

On the face of it, 100k equity, (keep the 30k for moving costs) and a 425 mortgage is under 3 times income. Should be more than doable.

We do have more savings but a lot is tied up in investments which isn't easy to withdraw and DH is obsessed with having a large buffer incase of emergencies. I guess we will have to save for longer.

Buffer is for emergencies if he lost his job he just likes to have cash stored and put in investments.

This is a real how long is a piece of string question.

• how old are you?
• do you have/ want kids?
• could you end up having to support other family members?
• do you intend to pay for private school?
• how secure are your jobs, and do you enjoy them. Could you be made redundant, or need to resign?
• do you have a plan (including possibly some kind of insurance) for if one/ both of you got ill?
• how much do you love going on holiday etc (no criticism).
• are you and your partner both happy with your work/ life balance?

I think a very rough guide would be that I would be happy to borrow 2-3x my salary. Another good thing to look at is how much you’re managing to save each month and don’t end up with a mortgage more than that- otherwise you’ll obviously need to cut back in other areas.

I think you also need to think longer term- we have just paid off our mortgage (I suspect we are older than you) and that feels pretty good (we do though have some very expensive children so I am not being too smug!).

So it’s not actually that your DH is risk-averse, if you’re saving a lot into investments (which I take to mean sticks & shares, bonds etc). It’s more that he doesn’t prioritise property as part of his investing strategy.

I think you need to look at it more closely and talk more with him about this. It’s a bit nuts to say we should save a bigger ‘buffer’ if actually that buffer is in the stock market. That should be viewed as long-term savings (like a house) rather than as emergency savings in case of job loss etc.

Of course you can afford the house. You’ve said he is risk averse and likes to save, but perhaps there is also more to it.

I was your DH (salary, not risk aversion) and it’s a lot of pressure. I was well respected in a senior role in a secure industry (as they go) and due to changes within the business ended up hating it and leaving. I’d now describe it as burn out, which is still hard to say because I’m as tough as they come and burnout ‘happens to other people’ - right until it happens to you. I’ve also had a realisation of how much family time
I’ve missed by not being ‘present’ even when I wasn’t officially working. I’ve taken 18 months off and luckily have sufficient savings and a not too massive mortgage.

Bigger house = more space but also more stamp duty, heating, maintenance costs, all on top of the mortgage.

I get it, but unless you are the high earner who may be masking what it’s really like (I did), I think you need to discuss a bit more. It’s not just do the numbers add up.

maybe your DH just doesn't want to upsize for the sake of it, maybe he thinks that a reasonable buffer is 12 months plus living expenses, maybe he thinks inflation and interest rates will increase faster than any pay rises; maybe he would prefer to save so he can go part time in his 50's or retire early
to be honest I wish we had a smaller house woth less work bigger house more cleaning more maintenance more heating etc etc I don't mean tiny but if your house has the bedrooms and reception space you need then why upsize just because you can