What % of your income goes on your rent/mortgage?

Mrs_Z

foolishboy wrote: »

I think we all know why the figures here are lower than expected - human nature - look how well off I am! :-)
Hmm... I'm not sure about that - what use is it for anyone to quote lower numbers than expected? The question itself is very simple but there are so many variables that would explain WHY some of the figures are so low - ie. age of the borrowers, children/no children, type of property/location, when the mortgage was taken out, what was the original LTW, people's general life style, overpayments made over the years, etc....

dotdash79

26.3% of my take home pay 17% of joint earnings. We only bought the house 3 months ago FTB so happy with that.

It was the same percentage in rent, but we have moved to a more expensive area.

geoffky

Christ...When rates rise some of you will struggle...

Almo

Some might, but percentages don't tell the whole story, it rather depends what it's a percentage of, exactly.

bodmil

geoffky wrote: »

Christ...When rates rise some of you will struggle...

That's rather unfair, how do you know we're not all overpaying and making the most of low rates now? Give people some 'credit'!

Lizling

geoffky wrote: »

Christ...When rates rise some of you will struggle...

Well, I think mine is the joint highest % here and on my current salary I'll be able to get by until interest rates hit about 9% without getting a lodger and 15% with. Of course, that might well happen eventually, but not before I've been able to pay a good bit of my mortgage off and I'll be able to move onto lower LTV offers by then.

Since I managed to continue saving for the deposit while paying a lot more in rent than I do on my mortgage, I'm not overly worried about payments going up.

foolishboy

Mrs_Z wrote: »

foolishboy wrote: »

I think we all know why the figures here are lower than expected - human nature - look how well off I am! :-)
Hmm... I'm not sure about that - what use is it for anyone to quote lower numbers than expected? The question itself is very simple but there are so many variables that would explain WHY some of the figures are so low - ie. age of the borrowers, children/no children, type of property/location, when the mortgage was taken out, what was the original LTW, people's general life style, overpayments made over the years, etc....

I think there are probably a ton of people with higher percentages not posting theirs when they see how low the average is - out of shame/embarrassment etc..

This is a great example of a comment that will 'scare' people off posting higher numbers:

Originally Posted by geoffky
Christ...When rates rise some of you will struggle...

BritishBulldog

At the moment rent is approx 18% of net income (£1000 pm). If, finger crossed, our mortgage is approved today, that will be about 27% (£1490) of income on a 5 year fixed rate...or about 32% (£1750) including overpayments planned. Both aged 37, with 2 kids. Only other debt is 2 loans @ £500pm combined for our cars.

Mrs_Z

foolishboy wrote: »

Mrs_Z wrote: »

I think there are probably a ton of people with higher percentages not posting theirs when they see how low the average is - out of shame/embarrassment etc..

Sorry, but I don't understand what's embarrassing about a high percentage? At the end of the day it's your home you're paying for and it's all relative. Your mortgage might take a high percentage out of an income, but that's not to say that you necessarily struggle if you're earning well in the first place. The figure is just a snapshot in particular time. For example, If I had answered this question a year ago, our percentage would have been much higher as the other half happened to be out of work at the time and our net income was half of that today.

kkgree1

Currently just over 5%.

This has only been possible due to the low interest rates and like others, we have been massively overpaying our mortgage. Hoping to pay mortgage off within the next 2 years.

I do agree that some people will get caught when rates eventually rise (I know friends who I think will struggle) but I don't think this will happen for a while yet! Hopefully, most have planned for this.

When we originally took our mortgage out nearly 3 years ago, the percentage was closer to 25%.