"How much mortgage can I afford?" is one of the most-searched money questions in the UK — and most answers stop at "4.5 times your salary." That's only half the story. The multiple is applied to your gross salary, but you repay the mortgage from your take-home pay — after Income Tax and National Insurance have taken their cut.
So we computed the full picture for every salary from £20,000 to £150,000, using 2025/26 tax rules: how much you can borrow, what it costs per month, and — the number almost nobody publishes — what share of your real take-home pay that repayment swallows.
| Salary | Take-home /mo | Max loan (4.5×) | House price (10% dep.) | Payment @4.5% | % of take-home | Stress @7% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | £1,493 | £90,000 | £100,000 | £500 | 33.5% | £636 |
| £25,000 | £1,793 | £112,500 | £125,000 | £625 | 34.9% | £795 |
| £30,000 | £2,093 | £135,000 | £150,000 | £750 | 35.8% | £954 |
| £35,000 | £2,393 | £157,500 | £175,000 | £875 | 36.6% | £1,113 |
| £40,000 | £2,693 | £180,000 | £200,000 | £1,000 | 37.1% | £1,272 |
| £50,000 | £3,293 | £225,000 | £250,000 | £1,251 | 38.0% | £1,590 |
| £60,000 | £3,780 | £270,000 | £300,000 | £1,501 | 39.7% | £1,908 |
| £70,000 | £4,263 | £315,000 | £350,000 | £1,751 | 41.1% | £2,226 |
| £80,000 | £4,746 | £360,000 | £400,000 | £2,001 | 42.2% | £2,544 |
| £100,000 | £5,713 | £450,000 | £500,000 | £2,501 | 43.8% | £3,181 |
| £120,000 | £6,346 | £540,000 | £600,000 | £3,001 | 47.3% | £3,817 |
| £150,000 | £7,607 | £675,000 | £750,000 | £3,752 | 49.3% | £4,771 |
Here's the counter-intuitive result. On £20,000, a maximum mortgage costs 33.5% of your take-home pay. On £150,000 — seven and a half times the salary — it costs 49.3%. The more you earn, the bigger the bite a maximum mortgage takes out of your real pay packet.
Why? Because the 4.5× multiple is applied to gross salary, but progressive tax means your take-home grows much more slowly than your gross. Between £100,000 and £125,140, the tapered personal allowance means you keep barely £53 of every extra £100 — yet the lender happily multiplies the full gross figure by 4.5.
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Flipping the table around — here's the salary required at each price point, assuming a 10% deposit and the standard 4.5× multiple:
| House price | Deposit (10%) | Loan needed | Salary required | Payment @4.5% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £200,000 | £20,000 | £180,000 | £40,000 | £1,000/mo |
| £250,000 | £25,000 | £225,000 | £50,000 | £1,251/mo |
| £300,000 | £30,000 | £270,000 | £60,000 | £1,501/mo |
| £350,000 | £35,000 | £315,000 | £70,000 | £1,751/mo |
| £400,000 | £40,000 | £360,000 | £80,000 | £2,001/mo |
| £500,000 | £50,000 | £450,000 | £100,000 | £2,501/mo |
Remember these salary figures can be combined incomes — a couple on £30,000 each clears the £60,000 needed for a £300,000 home.
Lenders don't just check today's rate — they test whether you'd cope if rates jumped. Our stress column shows repayments at 7%. The gap is brutal: on a £50,000 salary, the maximum mortgage goes from £1,251 to £1,590 a month — from 38% to 48% of take-home. On £100,000, the stressed payment hits £3,181, over 55% of monthly net pay.
This is exactly why lenders sometimes offer you less than 4.5× — the stress test binds before the multiple does.
All figures computed by Tabutility, August 2026. Take-home pay uses 2025/26 England & Wales Income Tax bands (personal allowance £12,570 with taper above £100,000) and Class 1 employee NI (8% between £12,570–£50,270, 2% above). Mortgage payments use the standard amortisation formula over 25 years. Real lender offers vary with credit history, outgoings and lender policy — this analysis shows the standard framework, not financial advice. You're free to cite or reproduce these tables with a link to this page.
4.5× gross salary is the standard cap most UK lenders apply. Some stretch to 5–5.5× for higher earners or professionals.
About £60,000 (single or combined) with a 10% deposit — £270,000 borrowed at 4.5×.
Under 35% is the classic guideline. Our data shows maximum borrowing at current rates exceeds that for most salaries above £30,000.
The multiple uses gross pay, but repayments come from net pay — and progressive tax means net pay grows slower. At £150,000 a maximum mortgage takes 49% of take-home versus 34% at £20,000.
Tax, NI and net pay for any UK salary — instant and free.
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