How is everyone coping with mortgage rates increasing?!

[Undecided94]

This might be a thread for the money matters section but hopefully, it makes equal sense here.

Early 30s and looking to buy a house with land. The idea is that we will have more space for a home gym, home office and somewhere to keep my horse. I have found a house, it’s been on the market for 5 months with no offers so I’m tempted to make a cheeky offer.

That said, even if they accept the offer, mortgage would be around £2k per month! Add bills on top and it’s feeling scary. Is this normal? Our friends seem to have borrowed much more and earn much less but their interest rates are half! I’m looking at over 5%.

There is a cost either way, if we stay where we are, I continue to pay the monthly fees, which are less than the jump to the house with land but I’d have the convenience of having my horse on my own land.

The cost of living seems to have just shot up. It’s not just the mortgage rates. It’s absolutely everything! How are we all coping? Honest opinions welcome 😊

I thank the dear Lord I am just about mortgage free after 36 years!!!
I suffered the 17% Interest Rate in the late 80s, so I feel your pain. You literally have to just run with it

I thought 17% was late 1970"s, or was that base rate?

People now prioritising the mortgage debt?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-08/uk-card-defaults-rise-for-longest-period-in-17-years-boe-says

Could be Australia, they had massive interest rates in the late 80s

Just searched it, it was BASE RATE at 17% in the UK in 1979, holy God, and average mortgage rate in the late 80"s was apparently 10%, although I think some deals for bad credit, low deposit etc. were much higher than that?

My mortgage has literally doubled. My income has reduced because I'm self employed and my industry is suffering at the moment.

We have been using savings. We also had a buy to let (our pension) which we're in the process of selling to reduce our mortgage. Trouble is that's the pension gone!

This is scandalous from the lenders.
It would put you in a completely unsustainable situation!

Op give yourself 33.3% as an absolute maximum. Don’t over stretch further. Based on that it sounds like you are at the limit x

The lenders are at the mercy of the bond markets, what do you want them to do! Individuals are responsible for their own level of risk when taking on mortgage debt.

Pension should be stocks/bonds, not the hope of finding a tenant.

Thank you for your very kind advice. We had continuous tenants for 25 years so didn't have to 'hope'.

So there is you pension. I presume it’s paid off in full?
Less the CGT you should have a decent lump sum.

Exactly, all the rent paid and sale of the house should make a nice nest egg?

Haven't quite rtft but was going to ask if you were planning to start a family. I see you have budgeted for this but plan to return full time.

It was a while ago when we bought out first home at a similar stage in life and pre-kids. But the rule we made for ourselves then was to live a lifestyle that we could afford on one of our salaries. We used this for decisions on mortgage, private school etc. We earned then and ever since always the approximate same FTE. This strategy has helped us through the era of young kids, when we both worked a bit part time, loss of jobs, and illness. You never know what life will throw at you. I would stretch yourself as far as you can buy not so far that you are both tied to working full time at all times.

I'm sure some people will say that times have changed and people can't live like that any more... For context, we first bought in 2006. We had kids in 2008 and 2010 and paid our mortgage off in 2018.

Edited for typos.

It is incredibly unrealistic for most people to live on one salary, pay for private school and pay their mortgage off in 12 years 🙄

There is nothing wrong with choosing to work full time to afford a certain lifestyle.

”being able to live on on salary” sounds sensible until you remember most people make about £35k a year

What @AllIwantForChrismasIsAKitchenAidStandMixer said.

I know that some MNers are in a completely different wealth bracket from others, but I can't understand that they aren't aware of how the vast majority of the population goes through life.

Don’t forget to have a 6 months emergency fund separate to your investment account as well! 🙃

Good advice.

I mean OP, gently, you’re talking about cost of living but you have a horse - one of the most expensive hobbies you can have. And you want to build your own gym and have land. £2k a month isn’t really that much for that lifestyle. My friends paid half that for a room in an HMO in rent…

It is good advice but it’s also nowhere close to reality for the majority of people. That doesn’t mean they’re making poor life choices because they want a bigger house or commit to a larger than average mortgage. Sometimes it’s just the way it is and worth the gamble.

As you say it is a a gamble. Sometime gambles pay off, sometimes they don't.

people I know with horses are blooming skint! If you have a horse, it’s usually a passion, and you’ll sacrifice a lot for it. For those I know, it’s definitely not a diamond shoes scenario. MN seems to have a weird reverse snobbery regarding horses.

Yes, especially the big mortgages people have now.

The big mortgages people have no option but to have now!

No, if they are committing to these things, especially with mortgage debt, and don"t have the 6-12 months emergency fund they are making a spectacularly bad decision, life isn"t all about pretending to be better off than you are with loads of debt.

How unbelievably smug. Just out of interest how many people do you think actually have this or have any chance of having this amount of savings? It simply isn’t realistic for most people. These people still need to house their families appropriately, they still have the right to want to improve their lives. For some people it might not work out but many many people make it work