Family income 120k - would you borrow 400k in today's climate?

[hophapjoi]

Have to move and already have an offer on our current property but mulling over our options and have slightly different takes on it. We are both in our early 40s and joint income is 130k - and have found a property that we could live in long term (though it is a two bed so wont ever be able to downsizes) but that would need borrowing 400k. The bank will lend us up to 530K but that seem insane in the current climate. However, DH thinks that 400k is doable for somewhere we'd plan to stay indefinitely. Am feeling very nervous. We do live in London where things are expensive but both work in the public sector so arent expecting massive salary increases any time soon despite today's announcement. Are we crazy to be borrowing 400k on our salaries in the current climate?

You must be on some extreme interest rates. Because this doesn’t add up.

Definitely not what households on 200k do. And I can’t see any sort of worry in your situation. So you either creating a story here not knowing how much money 200k is, or you had poor deposit.

you may be nervous, but how sustainable is staying put? What circumstances need to change for this to be ok?

We bought a wreck of a house with a 400/450k mortgage ten years ago, an income of 100k between us and one baby and planning for another kid, hence years of nursery to pay. In other words, tight financially. However, we were moving from a one bed flat to buy an house in an area near family, and honestly, it felt as though staying put wasn’t a good option! I do think in London, it’s sort of hard to land up with a decent house without being quite bullish, unless you have so much family wealth. And yeah you can leave but it’s complex when your loved ones and work are in a particular place.