Two caps, side by side: what a lender will give you, and what you can comfortably pay each month. Your budget is the lower one.
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| Capped by lender income multiple (4.5×) | — |
| Capped by what you can comfortably pay | — |
| Deposit available for the purchase | — |
| Monthly payment at that price | — |
Lenders size a mortgage on a multiple of income — typically around 4.5× household income, reduced by your existing commitments. That is a limit on what they will risk, not advice on what you should spend. The second cap here is the one that actually protects you: the price at which the monthly payment stays inside roughly 30% of your take-home pay, after your other debts. Your real budget is the lower of the two, and the difference between them is where people get into trouble.
Stamp duty, legal fees, survey, and moving costs come out of the same pot as your deposit. Keep them back before you work out what you can put down — a deposit you have already half-spent is the most common reason an offer falls apart.
Most UK lenders cap the loan at roughly 4.5 times household income, reduced by your existing monthly commitments (they typically deduct around 100 times each monthly payment). Some go to 5.5 times for high earners or professional schemes, but 4.5 times is the realistic planning number.
Around 30% of take-home pay is comfortable; above roughly 35% you start squeezing saving, childcare and everything else, and a rate rise at remortgage becomes genuinely painful. This calculator uses 30% of net pay after your other debt payments.
No — and treating it as if it does is the most common budgeting mistake. Stamp duty, solicitor, survey and moving costs come out of your savings before the deposit does, which is why this calculator asks you to set them aside first.