How much do you pay for Mortgage?

[wanderlove]

We are starting to look at moving in the Autumn. At the moment we pay about £1000 a month but we are overpaying and trying to get ahead. We've just looked at a beautiful house but our mortgage payment would be about £1500 a month. We do need a bigger house as we have 4 kids in a three bedroom. It's fine at the moment but as they grow we will need more space. At the moment we manage to save £1000 a month on top of paying the mortgage. I don't mind scrimping to do this; I shop at Lidl, get the kids clothes second hand and we generally go on uk holidays and camp. I guess for me I enjoy spending money on a home rather than other things to make me happy. However I am also very careful with money so thinking about taking on a big mortgage makes me very nervous. By moving I will reduce my commute to nothing so will save a tank of petrol (approximately £70 per week) and also have to pay less in childcare as won't need to use the 7am breakfast club (approx £40 a week) so the move could save in other areas of our budget about £400.
I am feeling really anxious and have no idea if it seems like too much. Would you mind telling me how much your mortgage is and perhaps more importantly what % of your income it is?
Also any things I need to think about consider when taking on a big mortgage particular when working out if I can afford it.

£400 so just under 20% of net income.

It’s all relative. Your mortgage payments, overpayments and savings exceed my monthly income.

You have said that you will save £400 of the £500 extra by saving on the commute and child care. Presumably there is a time saving on the commute too. Sounds like a no brainier. That alone is probably worth the extra £100 in real terms and you get a nicer house too.

To those of you who say to make sure that you can afford the mortgage on 1 salary. At present my partner pays for house and all associates bills and I pay for housekeeping stuff e.g food and clothes and all childcare. I also manage to save £1000 a month although this may change as currently on maternity leave and will have increased childcare bills with day nursery when return to work but only until the funded hours kick in a 3. My partner could pay the bills on his wage as childcare costs would go if I lost my job but there is no way I could pay the mortgage etc if he lost his job. If we went for something they I could afford If he lost his job it would really limit us....I prob couldn't afford the house we are in now on my own! Would we be better saving for much longer to negate the risk? Surely most people have to rely on both salaries for their mortgage?

@Scarlettpixie I get that I'm in a very lucky position to be able to save and cover bills. I am careful with money but I know that many people are very careful with money and have no way of saving or even getting on the property ladder.
I went through a divorce at 30 and felt hopeless that I would ever find a way to buy a house so the fact we are now looking at the sort of houses we are feels quite emotional to be honest. I think it also explains my need to be very certain and sure about things financially. It drives my partner mad...
The percentages have been really useful but also I can see that the more you earn the higher I think the percentage can go. It's easy to feed your family is your 50% left is over £1000. Not so much if your 50% left is £250 for a family.

£880 which is about 15% of my income. I might move soon though and its likely to go up. It is not advised to pay more than 30% of your monthly income on rent or mortgage.

Whether or not people need both salaries depends how much their mortgage is and how their circumstances have changed since they bought.

Not everyone needs or wants to take the biggest mortgage possible to buy the most expensive house possible.

Our mortgage is less than 10% of our monthly income, so either of us could pay it alone.

Currently £700 a month. Looking to buy a house which will likely result in a £1700 a month mortgage which is about 25% of our take home pay

24% of joint income but we also have a buy to let so if included that would be 32% of joint income. Not too worried by that though as the BTL has approx 300k equity in it and mortgage will be paid off by Nov 2028 and we have about 265k equity in our main home (500k outstanding on mortgage) so plenty wriggle room for now. That said, we are looking to move this year or next so might end up being a higher % of our income on mortgage

£1100 which is 25% of joint income.

Around 10% of our income

600, which is about 30 percent of my take home pay. Planning to add DP to the deeds and mortgage when the fixed rate is up, at which point we will probably remortgage to a shorter term but aim for about 20-25 percent of our joint as monthly payments.

About 25% of my income

Our mortgage is 17% of our take home wage.

I think if you can easily save £1000 a month then you can afford the bigger mortgage. Remember though that bigger houses usually cost more council tax and more in utilities (although we moved to a new build so gas and electricity actually cost us less as it keeps much warmer than our old home).

@bouledeneige
I think that is the crux of it! I don't want to get the biggest mortgage possible but am trying to find the balance between being financially prudent and also having a nice life. We do love our current home but would like to move for better secondaries when the time comes and also because the kids won't want to share when they are bigger. We like the idea of having the space for them to return even when they have left home.

£600ish but also making overpayments. Have about £88,000 left

19% of our household income goes on mortgage.

But our house is too small & we’re miserable fuckers

About 12% of gross income (I don't even know what our net income is off the top of my head as dh is self-employed so all a bit complicated).

Mine started at about 20% of my income and is now 1.5%. Only ever my salary, but I had a large deposit saved before I bought. Then I saved so that I had at least six months of living expenses in the bank rather than overpaying for the first few years. Financially it might not have made the most sense but it made me feel secure.

£2200 - 45% of my take home salary

Ours is 12.5% of take home pay
If by movkng youte able to save £400 then its only really an extra £100 you're spending?

plus you're currently saving a good amount per month

i never get why the % is important. Say I take home 20k per year, and pay 25% of my income on mortgage payments. I am left with 15k for everything else.

if I take home 40k, but spend 40% of my income on the mortgage, I am left with 24k for everything else. Surely the key to affordability is the actual cold hard cash you have left over, rather than there being a magic % that works for everyone.

£147 per month......

It's about 10% of our combined post tax income but we overpay to bring it to 20%

We bought a much cheaper house than we could afford on paper, which I am glad about as DH is being made redundant and we can afford both the mortgage and the overpayment on my salary alone.

Mine is 10% take home income so have over paid for a decade to take it to 20-25% and have now almost got rid of it.

On a tracker which has been amazing. Interest rate is currently so low it cost about £30 in interest last month.

@Starcup it’s a joint income for me and DH - I WISH I was on £80k per year! I’m freelance so my salary can go up and down but usually around £40k average per year at the moment