Would you be comfortable with this mortgage repayment?

[FlyingSoap]

£1050pcm on a £210k house. That’s the current rates and best we can get.

Combined income currently 4100pcm.

When I go onto mat leave there will be months where we are only earning £2700pcm. We are trying to save to mitigate this.

Utility bills and car insurance probably another £500, then food shop and fuel to pay on top of that. DH also has a car payment.

Realistically, our monthly outgoings are about £2100/2200 which is one of our wages.

Would you feel happy with this in this situation? The bank said we could actually borrow much more than we are (don’t see how!?)

I think I’m just worried as it is much much higher than our rent, but we do want to get onto the property ladder before baby comes along

You’ll be okay but will need to keep an eye on spending/budgeting.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c87zgx42m5go

First-time buyers are facing the toughest conditions in 70 years to buy a home, according to a report by the Building Societies Association (BSA).
Those buying a first home were increasingly reliant on having two high incomes or receiving parental support, it said.
Others have been priced out and "stuck" in renting from private landlords.
Building societies account for a quarter of mortgage lending, and their association suggests the market needs to change to allow more people to buy a home.
Mortgage rates are relatively high compared with the last decade, and the cost of renting has also soared.
Latest official figures
, external showed private rental costs in the UK have risen by 9.2% in the last year.

I thought it was bad when i bought but this is so much worse. I would understand not upsizing (i have put my plans largely on hold though i have my eye out for larger flats) but if its your first property, I don't think it would get much better in terms of affordability even if prices dip a little. Also if the property is 210k you are probably not in the SE and i don't think prices will go down in places other than SE or London. My flat has barely moved in price in the past 5 years but I am still happy I bought when I did as i had 5 years of paying the mortgage at 2% interest rates and when I am still childless. at least i have a second bedroom to put a child in, many renters have far less than that.

My exDH and I did this at the start. Get redundancy/illness cover. One positive thing my ex is is cautious, turns out he was right as 4 years in I got made redundant, and I was out of work for a year, but our insurance covered our mortgage payments that year which I’m incredibly grateful for.

I mean it WILL be tight during maternity leave, but it's definitely doable. Maternity leave is temporary, and repayments will decrease over time as you pay off the loan.

If you have adequate savings to tide you over the mat leave months, yes I'd be comfortable with this.

Don't you get any mat pay or allowance? That would help mitigate the outgoings. Also child support - it's not a lot but it will cover nappies and some small essentials.

Have a look at your work’s maternity cover and see what the company will pay in addition to statutory. Save like mad still but may not be as bad as you fear.

I went back to work at 5.5 months for DS1 due to finances and regret it was so early. Took a year with DS2 which meant I had time with DS1 too as we only used the free hours.

So doable.

I mean we only tapped into the nursery free hours and I looked after both of them that year

You’ll be absolutely fine… seriously.

That's only about a 1/4 of household income. Just save hard ahead of mat leave.

Give yourself a break. Stay at the cheaper HA rent for two years then buy at that point. Less stress through the maternity months.