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Original poster

How much (not the actual amount) are you paying for a mortgage?

50 replies

FrettyBetty · 23/04/2011 21:26

My husband and I are buying a house in anticipation of our first child. It's all really new to us, including having a big mortgage! We just had a MIL visit, who was shocked at how much we are prepared to spend on a house. Which got us thinking...

Now, yes, we are thinking of a whopping great mortgage. But, living in London, there is not really a way around this. We are also blessed to be earning decent amounts. Before MIL I did not think that we are overburdening ourselves because I thought that proportionally to our incomes it's all right. The mortgage would be almost all of my salary, while my husband earns double of what I earn. In my mind, giving one full salary is not excessive, especially when that one salary is a significantly smaller one.

So I am curious, what do you pay on a mortgage proportionally to your incomes? One full salary? Half of one? More than one? It would be really interesting to hear different experiences!

OP posts:
HauntedLittleLunatic · 23/04/2011 21:29

I am a student (and a single mother now.

Before we split, and when we were both working it was about 15% of our combined income, maybe a little less.

DottyDot · 23/04/2011 21:30

Mine is more or less exactly 33% of my salary - which should be fine but in reality is always waaaay too much...

CarGirl · 23/04/2011 21:31

Well I don't think proportionate to your income kind of works.

If you have high incomes then one income can be more than enough to pay c. tax, food, childcare, utilities, clothes etc

We pay a half of 1 salary on our mortgage but what's left from 1.5 salaries isn't much at all IYSWIM - we live in surrey, and have a 30 year term!

Absolutelyfabulous · 23/04/2011 21:33

Ye gads! That's a third of your combined incomes. What happens when/if you have a baby and give up work or need to factor in childcare?

A third of your salary is fine if you are bringing home 6K plus a month but bloody grim on less than 3 or 4, I'd say!

noodle69 · 23/04/2011 21:37

We earn £1580 with cb and we pay a mortgage of £625. Its not too bad still got enough to do stuff and have a laugh. Thats just over half my salary for mortgage but most young couples are in same situ and it gets better as you get older.

noodle69 · 23/04/2011 21:38

Soz thats the whole of my salary! Had a drink soz I knew what I meant Grin

Original poster
FrettyBetty · 23/04/2011 21:41

Well, I just calculated quickly, it's between 28 - 33% of our combined incomes. I am not giving up work, and there is grandmother help in terms of childcare, but yes, I am starting to think it's a bit much...

We are on more than 6... I am not sure if proportionate thinking works or not, I have to say! I thought it did.

OP posts:
Original poster
FrettyBetty · 23/04/2011 21:43

Noodle, on average we are not such a young couple! So not sure how much better it'll get. I ain't complaining though (apart from the ridiculous London prices, grumble, grumble...).

OP posts:
LadyLapsang · 23/04/2011 21:45

About 8%, although it was a lot more when we were at your stage. However, if the mortgage alone is going to take up approx. 30% of 2 full-time incomes that may mean you have little choice but to return to full-time work and childcare is likely to be expensive. Just make sure you have savings to cover a few months outgoings so you are ready for the unexpected.

WikiSpeaksagain · 23/04/2011 22:00

Well I can buck the trend here. Our rent is 50% of our income. It's hard. We have no choice fir a multitude of reasons. It should get easier for us in about 18mo but until then we're really quite broke.

Bumpsadaisie · 23/04/2011 22:09

Well, we earn £4000 net and pay £1000 for a mortgage. So 25%. My DD is with her grandparents two days a week and with DH one day a week, so we have no childcare costs either. We manage well at the moment and feel better off than we have for a while.

Before we moved, previously we earned £5000 and paid £2300 for the mortgage, so closer to 50% This was unsustainable once we had our first child and I wanted to work fewer hours and take a long maternity leave.

You really need to think how having a child would affect things. Perhaps you will not want to return to work full time. If you do want to return to work, you will then have to pay for childcare which is pricey in London. You need to do the calculations imagining that you work for example only three days a week and perhaps pay £800 a month childcare (more if you wanted a one to one nanny). Other people will know more about the cost of childcare in London than me.

ChocolateEggyrolls · 23/04/2011 22:13

Ours is 1/3 of dh's salary but that is interest only - my salary has fluctuated in the past 4 years due to children, however it is now what my salary originally was (I am still and pretty much was a low earner!)

noodle69 · 23/04/2011 22:21

Fretty - well ours is only a flat at the moment for that price and we will probably have another child in here before we move . It would be way over half our income for a terrace house. It will probably get a bit better in our 30s as I will be working full time but only make £6 an hour though at mo but still will be a bit better on 40 hours than I am on 25.

pinkytheshrinky · 23/04/2011 22:21

Ours is about 30% of DH's salary - I don't work but do have an income and we save a lot at the moment - If I got a real job and had to pay childcare it would not be worth it

Guildenstern · 23/04/2011 22:31

Ours is only about 18% of our income. But that's because we have a small mortgage on a ridiculous rate - it will rise when interest rates go up.

I wish we could get a bigger mortgage tbh - four times our income isn't much. :)

NonnoMum · 23/04/2011 22:38

I'm about the same as you OP. One third of our take home pay...

Original poster
FrettyBetty · 24/04/2011 08:42

Is that working out ok for you, Nonno? We are just about to sit down with a pen and paper and look at all our outgoings...

OP posts:
rainbowinthesky · 24/04/2011 08:47

30% of combined net income.

noodle69 · 24/04/2011 08:50

I dont know anyone who is paying less than 30% mortgage that would be seen as very cheap imo. I dont think you will find it hard as you will have loads left over.

Absolutelyfabulous · 24/04/2011 08:52

Noodle - It depends entirely on what your net income is.

30% of 2K net is a huge chunk, 30% of 6K is very doable.

I would be very twitchy indeed with a 30% mortgage and DH takes home considerably more than 6K a month.

noodle69 · 24/04/2011 08:55

My income is £1580 and our mortgage is £625. I think that is very cheap compared to my friends. All depends on your expectations I suppose.

claire201 · 24/04/2011 08:56

have you actually had a mortgage offer?? My husband and I have a joint income of more than 5000 per month and a decent credit rating and this will be our 4th mortgage, and are going to struggle to get 200k in the current economic market. We will also need a 20% deposit for the new build house we are looking at if we want to stay with our current mortgage provider!! Better to find out how much you can actually borrow before looking and being disappointed!

Chil1234 · 24/04/2011 10:10

I'm a singleton mum of one paying out 42% of my net salary on the mortgage which is only about £70k. The payments could be lower but I'm aiming to be shot of it within the next 5 or 6 years so that it gives me a bit of time to save up money in case my son wants to go on to university.

Original poster
FrettyBetty · 24/04/2011 13:02

Claire, I cannot explain this, but we've had a very large mortgage offer, way more than we are actually going to spend. Ie. they would give us up to 50% our incomes or so.

Chil my respects to you.

Absolutely, we've sat down and calculated everything, and it does seem very doable. We seem to be in a similar situation to you. So I am not sure why it is making you twitchy, though we won't be making huge savings (some, yes).

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SecretNutellaFix · 24/04/2011 13:13

We are very lucky and it's just over 25% of just my DH's income, because he was the only one earning at the time the house was bought. Which was 8 years ago and at exactly the right time.

We are extremely lucky in that respect, however- our house is in what most consider to be one of the worst areas of our town to live in. High levels of intentional unemployment, massive drugs and alcohol issues, 90% of all children don't live with both biological parents, community police present nearly all day- everyday. If you say you live in X people visibly back off or if you invite them over they make excuses constantly not to do so.

It is a compromise we made, but it feels very crowded. We would both love a semi-detached house with a garden and a driveway, but the only way we could afford that is to be earning 3 times as much each as we are now or a lottery win.