How much can I borrow on a mortgage?

General guidance, not a personal recommendation. Lender criteria, insurance terms and costs depend on the product and your circumstances. Numerical examples are illustrations unless expressly identified as an individual quote. Check current terms with your adviser and tax or legal points with the relevant specialist.

Lenders assess affordability using their own criteria and the full application. Income, spending, debts, deposit, term and property all matter. An online estimate is a starting point, not an offer; an adviser can compare current criteria without guaranteeing a larger loan.

The basic affordability equation

Lenders typically start with an income multiple, historically 4x to 4.5x your annual income, sometimes 5x, occasionally 5.5x or more. They then apply their own affordability calculator, which factors in:

• Basic salary, subject to the lender's evidence and eligibility requirements.
• Bonus and overtime (often 50%, sometimes 100% for specific professions).
• Self-employed profits or dividends (averaged over 1-3 years).
• Child maintenance, pension contributions, benefits (treated differently by each lender).
• Existing debts, credit cards, car finance, personal loans, student loans.
• Committed outgoings, childcare, private school fees, maintenance payments.
• Stress tests at higher interest rates (currently 6-8% assumption for affordability).

Realistic ranges

For a typical employed applicant with stable income, no major debts, and a reasonable deposit:

• £30,000 single income → typically £120k to £160k maximum borrowing (4-5.3x multiple).
• £60,000 joint income → typically £240k to £330k.
• £100,000 joint income → typically £400k to £550k.
• £200,000 joint income → typically £800k to £1.1m+. HNW territory opens up here.

These are indicative ranges only. The difference between the low and high figure is almost always explained by lender selection, choosing a lender whose specific criteria favour your specific income structure.

What stretches or shrinks your maximum

Stretches your number: qualified professional status (doctor, teacher, nurse, solicitor, etc), minimal debt, strong deposit (15%+), stable long-term employment history, strong credit score, no young children (lower cost-of-living assumptions), no student loans. Shrinks your number: car finance, credit card debt, child maintenance, student loans, temporary or probationary employment, bonus-heavy income, irregular self-employment, existing buy-to-let mortgage commitments.

How a broker makes the difference

Every lender publishes their criteria publicly, but reading their criteria documents tells you roughly 60% of what you need to know. The other 40% comes from placing dozens of cases with each lender every month, knowing how their actual underwriters treat edge cases, which lenders are currently flexible on specific income types, and when a case needs pre-submission dialogue with a lender's BDM. This is what a broker adds.

The 4.5x rule and the 15% limit

Since 2014 the Bank of England has limited how much high loan-to-income lending the larger lenders can do: no more than 15% of a lender's new residential mortgages can be at 4.5 times income or above. That is why 4.5x became the working ceiling for most people, and why lenders ration their higher multiples to particular professions, higher earners or bigger deposits.

That limit has been loosening. From July 2025 the rule only applies to lenders writing more than £150 million of mortgages a year (up from £100 million), and regulators began letting individual lenders go above 15% provided the market as a whole stays within it. In April 2026 the Prudential Regulation Authority consulted on making that permanent. In practice more lenders now offer 5x to 5.5x income on the right profile. Whether you qualify still depends on each lender's own affordability model, not the multiple alone.

The stress test

Lenders must check you could still afford the mortgage if rates rose during the first five years. The FCA does not prescribe the rate they test at, so each lender sets its own approach. On a five-year fixed rate the test is usually lighter, because your payment is set for that period. That is one reason a five-year fix can support a slightly larger loan than a two-year fix on the same income.

Worked example: one applicant on £45,000

A salaried applicant earning £45,000, with no debts and a 10% deposit. At 4.5x income a lender would look at around £202,500. A lender offering 5x on this profile would look at around £225,000. Add a £300 a month car finance payment and both figures can fall by £15,000 or more, because the payment comes off the income the lender treats as available each month. Clearing that finance before applying usually brings the higher figure back.

How much can we borrow on a joint mortgage?

Most lenders add both incomes together and apply the multiple to the total. Two applicants earning £35,000 and £30,000 have £65,000 of combined income, which at 4.5x points to around £292,500. Some lenders treat a second or part-time income differently, and both applicants' debts and credit files count. Where one of you has a weaker credit history, choosing a lender that weighs it more lightly can matter more than the multiple.

What to do before you apply

• Check your files with all three credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) and correct any errors.
• Register on the electoral roll at your current address.
• Avoid new credit applications in the three to six months before you apply.
• Reduce small balances where you can: lenders look at monthly commitments, not only total debt.
• Have three months of payslips and bank statements ready, or two years of accounts or tax calculations if you are self-employed.

Our affordability estimator gives a quick range and the indicative borrowing tool goes a step further. For a figure backed by a lender, an Agreement in Principle is the next step.