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Original poster

Rent/Mortgage - What % of take home income do you spend?

77 replies

escape · 01/08/2013 22:45

I am driving myself crazy deciding weather to rent a house that would cost £400 pcm more than I pay currently.
I believe can afford it, and for various reasons it will make me so mch more happier ( lifestyle/sanity!)

Can I ask what % of your households take home income do you spend on rent or mortgage - I want to know if I am being frivolous even contemplating this... TIA.

OP posts:
LadyKooKoo · 02/08/2013 14:30

It would be 19% but we are overpaying at the moment so 28%.

LazyMonkeyButler · 02/08/2013 14:52

Surely it depends on what your monthly income is, as to what % is affordable?

If you had a £500 income then rent of £250 would be too high, as it is fairly impossible to live on £250 a month for everything else.

However, if your income was £10,000 a month then you could probably pay out 60-70% and still afford to live.

AntoinetteCosway · 02/08/2013 14:54

It was 25% but I've just stopped work so it's now 40%. It makes me very nervous but none of us were happy with DD in nursery all the time.

GetStuffezd · 02/08/2013 14:55

about 30%

YoniBottsBumgina · 02/08/2013 15:15

Of my wages, over 100%

Including tax credits, housing benefit, etc it's around 45%.

YoniBottsBumgina · 02/08/2013 15:17

If I don't take child benefit into account, it's almost 50%! Surprised so many people pay such a small percentage TBH.

PattyPenguin · 02/08/2013 20:17

50%. Husband made redundant two years ago, still not got another proper job, just bits here and there. One kid at uni, one about to go to FE college, which means will still cost money but not contribute. Am beyond stressed about it all.

ReluctantBeing · 02/08/2013 20:18

Our rent is a third of our income. We save £30 a month ATM.

Rtfairy · 02/08/2013 20:35

About 24% of our joint income which is enough I think

scarlettsmummy2 · 02/08/2013 21:27

10%

Runningchick123 · 03/08/2013 07:26

26% which is way more than we would like, but we have whatbwe hope is our forever home so it is worth it in the long run.

Mum2Fergus · 03/08/2013 09:44

19%

Tasmania · 05/08/2013 00:15

Currently renting. About 17%. Will soon be buying though, and it would then go up to 30%...

Mendi · 05/08/2013 07:37

OP I am about to move to a rented house where the rent will be 40% of my net income, as opposed to where I live now which is more like 15%. I am really anxious about it but like you, the 2 houses are incomparable and I have to move, so I'm trying to justify it on the basis of all the good reasons and plan to economise where I can.

myron · 06/08/2013 15:23

25%

Viviennemary · 06/08/2013 15:31

I don't think the percentage thing is a good yardstick. Because if somebody has a higher salary then what they have left after the rent/mortgage has been paid will be more than the person with the lower salary. So they could make cuts if things got tight.

TheSmallPrint · 06/08/2013 15:36

about 35%

Tasmania · 06/08/2013 22:07

Viviennemary Most people live within their means (to some extent). A wealthier person will often buy/rent a more expensive house/flat, so will have more to pay, and the proportion may remain the same.

Only very, very wealthy (we're talking millions) people won't spend much proportionally because there's a limit as to how much houses can cost, and they may be able to buy them outright...

emma16 · 06/08/2013 22:12

15%

peggyundercrackers · 06/08/2013 22:21

our mortgage is about 11% of our income

amothersplaceisinthewrong · 06/08/2013 22:22

0%, we paid our mortgage off six years ago.

EeyoreIsh · 06/08/2013 22:23

25%.

titchy · 06/08/2013 22:39

About 60%

Neither of our salaries on their own covers the mortgage let alone the bills. Not a good position to be in but we have a lot of equity which we wouldn't have had if we didn't stretch ourselves to extend the house.

We just about manage.

countrymummy13 · 07/08/2013 08:37

14%

Standautocorrected · 07/08/2013 09:27

It was 38% when we were overpaying, but its now much lower than that.
Im now a sahm so we couldn't have sustained such a high amount.

I am looking into an extension so the cushion we built up by overpaying should help with that.