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Original poster

What’s the most you’d comfortably spend on mortgage...

71 replies

planforeverything · 05/12/2018 15:25

I know this is all relative as spending 1/3 of your income on a mortgage when you earn £2k a month is tight as the quantum amount you’re left with isn’t much but out of curiosity, what’s the most per month you’d spend on your mortgage?

I take home £4200 after tax. DH is £4800 after tax so £9000 per month.

We have no children and won’t within next 3 years (and possibly not in next 5), no debt and spend about £1k per month on non household bills.

My friends aren’t in London so even my £2500 per month mortgage now terrifies them. I’ve found a really dreamy house and we were going to wait until next December to move to save more equity but I’m considering ‘gearing up’

Mortgage would be £3750 per month - is it too much?

OP posts:
Original poster
planforeverything · 05/12/2018 15:27

P.s no comments on childcare needed as 1) there’s a bigger chance than average that I can’t have children 2) if we do our nursery costs will be paid for

OP posts:
DryIce · 05/12/2018 15:30

It's not really the kind of thing anyone can answer for you - except the mortgage company who may not lend you that much, I think I've heard 30% of income to be max advised.

You know how much you earn and spend, how secure your careers are, how much you like to have left over. If you're comfortable, go for it.

Fwiw, I'm in London too and your current mortgage would scare me!

MaMaMaMySharona · 05/12/2018 16:09

You should always factor in the possibility of one person covering the mortgage if, for any reason, the other cannot (unemployment for example).

TiddleTaddleTat · 05/12/2018 16:45

The answer depends on a) your attitude to risk overall b) security of your jobs - and whether you foresee slowing down or going part time in the near future

Villanellesproudmum · 05/12/2018 16:48

Mines 1/6th of my monthly income.

pitterpatterrain · 05/12/2018 16:50

Agree with Tiddle - doesn’t give much room for deciding you CBA to stay in the rat run. How long would it take you to pay off?

Is that over 30 years or 10?

I see you mention most likely not kids, as yes, that’s the main eater of cash for us beyond the mortgage

Berniethefastestmilkwoman · 05/12/2018 16:54

You would still be left with considerably more than most households have so it isn't that risky. Presumably you could save a cushion very quickly to fall back on if one of you lost your job. I'd start saving now but most people would find paying the mortgage and everything else quite difficult if one person lost their job.

Bluewidow · 05/12/2018 16:55

Um that’s nearly 1 persons salary so if they couldn’t work for some reason or dare I say if you split up your not going to be able to afford. I’ve always budgeted so that if one of us wasn’t working/ around I’d still be able to afford everything. But that’s just me being fiercely independent and not wanting to rely on anyone.

flumpybear · 05/12/2018 16:59

If you think what you have left covers all your other bills with plenty of room for excess and savings. Also I'd be inclined to ensure I was able to make a profit on the house eg we're doing an extension and it'll up our mortgage to around 20% of our joint salaries which is higher than its ever been for us, however I know that the money we spend on the house / mortgage will be worth it as our home will be worth even more still ... if it's likely the house prices are maxed oit
Where you are considering moving to then I'd be disinclined to move

PaintingOwls · 05/12/2018 17:01

Mortgage will stress test you as well, 7% on mine. So if interest rates went up to 7% could you still pay mortgage and have at least £1 left over after bills etc?

NotCitrus · 05/12/2018 17:04

We wanted to be able to live on DP's salary only, if really necessary. Once we had multiple kids that became more difficult - but we did manage for a year. And even on mine for a few months, but that involved dipping into savings, but at least DP didn't have to take the first job he could get.

Other friends could be less risk-averse as they knew their families could help if they got made redundant - we didn't have that.

Titsywoo · 05/12/2018 17:10

That's a lot. Ours is 30% of our income and it feels a lot (and our income isn't as high as yours). We live pretty comfortably but still have to watch the pennies and only DH's bonuses pay for holidays/work to the house. Would you be able to reduce the monthly payments when you do have kids?

SongforSal · 05/12/2018 17:14

Totally depends. Our mortgage is about one eigth of our joint income and I feel comfortable with that. Fairly small repayment, not on mega bucks overall. I wouldn't want to up size, purely because I am overly cautious.

craftinglife · 05/12/2018 18:55

Ours is about a fifth of our income. We would never have taken a mortgage that couldn't be covered comfortably with one salary as well as that one salary covering the other outgoings. We have a lovely house is a very good area but it's not as big or impressive as some of my friends houses but we love having more money to spend on other things, save and ultimately having the luxury of me being able to stop work if we want

Ss770640 · 05/12/2018 20:15

Rule of thumb 30% of your wage

NorthernLurker · 05/12/2018 20:22

I think that's a lot. It really closes down your options.

HotChoc10 · 05/12/2018 20:28

I want to see the house it must be amazing! Me and my partner have much lower salaries but prioritised a smaller mortgage we could pay off quickly over a nicer/bigger/more central house. Each to their own though and I don't think either is necessarily 'right'.

Original poster
planforeverything · 05/12/2018 20:46

Thanks for all of your comments!

I honestly wouldn’t usually think this is a good idea (I’m from Scotland so these prices are taking a lot of getting used to in London) but I’m on a huge upward spike with my own salary, in 2-3 years time I’ll hopefully be on around £120k (if all goes to plan. Obviously I know that’s not guaranteed but thats what my peer group who are 2-3 years in front of me in the firm are on. I’m in my late 20s so if I can stretch myself now and make overpayments with my bonus (50% of salary) it’d be doable. BUT I’m a risk seeker/taker so I really don’t want to put myself in a situation that could be catastrophic. This will be our last move in London (if we move again it’ll be up north) but do see ourselves here for next 5 years at least.

Need to stop looking at gorgeous houses on Rightmove!

OP posts:
sbplanet · 05/12/2018 21:09

If you're going to stretch yourself then make sure you buy somewhere that is a good location - if there where to be problems in the housing market and you needed to sell then it's always easier to sell 'good location' houses.
We stretched ourselves to buy - I won't go into stoozing on the credit cards, etc! - but sometimes you have to push yourself to get what you want. Just make sure you have a back up, and with your financial situation I cvan't see why you wouldn't always be able to have enough leeway to find cash to keep up payments, even if only until you had to sell if things got that bad!

Milly848 · 05/12/2018 23:03

I think it sounds manageable tbh, remember OP many people on here bought before the huge increase in house prices so anything about £400 a month will seem insane to them. The amount you're paying is a lot but it's not too bad if you're bringing hom £9000 a month. ps. what are your jobs?!

shiningstar2 · 05/12/2018 23:19

I think definitely manageable ...especially as you expect hikes in salary. If you wait to buy the price will constantly rise in London so you might as well bite the bullet now. Doesn't sound as though you are both likely to lose your jobs and if you had to live on one income for a while if something unfortunate happened to one job you could probably down size at a profit providing this didn't happen for a couple of years.

I would definitely start economising a little now so that you can save a cushion just in case.

Bouchie · 05/12/2018 23:23

fuck me. you earn jointly in a month what I earn on a year.

DexyMidnight · 05/12/2018 23:27

Hi OP our household income is similar and I'd have no qualms with what you're proposing. You can afford to be a lot riskier at that salary level as (as you allude to in your OP) your 'worst case scenario' would still leave you with more than most. So if one of you loses your job you're going to have pretty much zero disposable income after 6 months. If a new job wasn't found promptly the situation would become unsustainable and you may have to sell up and rent.

I'm not suggesting losing your hone through redundancy isn't traumatic but it's not that tramatic if a) no kids and b) you still have £4000+ net a month, which is pleeeenty to rent a 1 bed flat in london, pay the bills and live for as long as it takes the other to get back in employment.

Redundancy is not unusual but if you're a lawyer like i think you you'd never be umemployed for long. Even in a recession you might just need to accept a job that pays 80 instead of the 120 you were pulling in previously.

Go for it. Its more likely to go right than go wrong.

CatAndMice · 05/12/2018 23:29

@Bouchie sickening, isn't it? Sad

IMissGin · 05/12/2018 23:31

Our household income is similar, our mortgage is around the £2500 mark. I wouldn’t be comfortable with much higher although we frequently over pay. We do have 2 children though.