How much can I borrow?
The honest version of the answer: a multiple of income, narrowed by your outgoings, settled only by a lender. This gives you the plausible range to start house-hunting with.
Guide
How to use it
- Enter your annual income before tax, and a partner’s if buying together.
- Add your deposit, borrowing plus deposit is your realistic budget ceiling.
- Read the range: 4× to 5× joint income, with 4.5× the common midpoint.
- Treat it as a search filter, not a promise: an agreement in principle from a lender or broker is the number estate agents respect.
Examples
What moves the multiple
Car finance, loans, childcare and maintenance all reduce what affordability models offer, £300 a month of commitments can trim tens of thousands off the loan.
Lenders typically count 50 to 60% of regular bonus or commission, and want two years’ history. Basic salary is the bankable number.
Higher multiples exist, usually for higher earners, larger deposits or professional schemes, but regulation caps how much high-multiple lending each bank can do, so they ration it.
Method
How it works
The estimate is the industry’s income-multiple heuristic: most UK lending lands between 4 and 5 times gross income, with regulatory flow limits above 4.5× keeping that the practical centre. Your true figure comes from an affordability model: income minus commitments minus stressed outgoings at a higher test rate.
This page deliberately does not pretend to run that model, it needs your full outgoings and each lender weighs them differently. Range first, agreement in principle second, offers third.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is 4.5 times income a rule?
A regulatory pressure point rather than a law: lenders can exceed it for a limited share of their lending, so most price and ration around it.
Do two incomes really both count?
Yes, joint applications multiply combined income, both credit files are assessed and both are liable for the whole debt.
Does my deposit change how much I can borrow?
Only slightly, borrowing is income-led. What deposit changes is the rate (via loan-to-value) and the total budget: borrowing plus deposit.
What is an agreement in principle?
A lender’s soft-checked statement of what they would likely lend you, free, quick, and what agents mean by "proof of funds" for offers.
Will a worse credit score shrink the multiple?
It shrinks the lender list and raises the rate more than it cuts the multiple. Specialist lenders price risk rather than refusing it, expensively.
Should I borrow the maximum?
The maximum is what a model tolerates, not what a life enjoys. Run the mortgage calculator on the implied payment and imagine it at a rate 2% higher, that is roughly the stress test lenders apply, and a decent personal one too.
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