How Much Mortgage Can You Get on Your Salary?
Published
How much mortgage you can get on your salary starts with a simple multiple: most UK lenders lend around 4.5 times your gross annual salary. So a £30,000 salary points to about £135,000, a £40,000 salary to about £180,000, and a £60,000 salary to about £270,000. A growing number of lenders will stretch to 5.5 times for stronger applications, which lifts that £60,000 salary to roughly £330,000. The multiple is only the starting point though, because your committed outgoings and a lender stress test both pull the final figure down. A single £250-a-month car payment can remove about £45,000 of borrowing capacity on its own. The share of lending allowed above 4.5 times income was also relaxed in 2026, which changed who can reach the higher multiples rather than changing the multiples themselves.
How many times your salary can you borrow?
The UK default has sat at 4 to 4.5 times gross annual salary for years, and that remains the sensible planning assumption. Lending at or above 4.5 times income is capped as a share of each lender's new mortgages by the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee. That is why higher multiples reach a minority of borrowers rather than everyone. Regulators have been relaxing the firm-level version of that cap since 2025, with permanent rules expected in the second half of 2026. Separately, the Financial Conduct Authority reminded lenders that its rules never required a rigid stress margin. The practical result is that 5.5 times is now available from some lenders, and a few offer 6 times to first-time buyers through specific schemes.
How much can you borrow on your salary?
The table below applies both multiples to a range of salaries. It shows what the resulting loan would cost each month on a 25-year repayment mortgage at 4.5%. The monthly figures matter as much as the loan size, because they are what your budget has to absorb every month for a quarter of a century.
| Gross salary | At 4.5× | Monthly | At 5.5× | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £30,000 | £135,000 | £750 | £165,000 | £917 |
| £40,000 | £180,000 | £1,000 | £220,000 | £1,223 |
| £50,000 | £225,000 | £1,251 | £275,000 | £1,529 |
| £60,000 | £270,000 | £1,501 | £330,000 | £1,834 |
| £75,000 | £337,500 | £1,876 | £412,500 | £2,293 |
| £100,000 | £450,000 | £2,501 | £550,000 | £3,057 |
What about a joint application?
Joint applications normally use combined income, which is why two modest salaries often beat one larger one. Salaries of £35,000 and £25,000 are assessed as £60,000, supporting about £270,000 at 4.5 times or £330,000 at 5.5 times, the same as a single earner on £60,000. The catch is that both applicants' credit commitments count against the total. So a car loan or a student overdraft held by either person reduces what the pair can borrow together. Some lenders weight a second income differently, particularly where it is part-time or variable, so the combined figure is not always a straight addition.
What reduces how much you can borrow?
Committed outgoings are the biggest hidden brake, and the arithmetic is unforgiving. A lender treats a monthly commitment as money that can no longer service a mortgage. So a £150 monthly payment removes about £27,000 of capacity, £250 a month removes about £45,000, and £400 a month removes about £72,000. Childcare costs, personal loans, credit-card minimums, and car finance all count, while unused credit limits can also weigh against you. On top of that, lenders stress test your application at a rate above the one you would pay, which is why an offer typically lands below the headline multiple. Running your real numbers through the affordability calculator gives a more honest range than any multiple alone.
How to improve the figure
Clearing or reducing monthly commitments before you apply is the fastest lever. Removing a £250 payment can restore roughly £45,000 of capacity in a way that a pay rise of the same monthly value would struggle to match. A larger deposit helps twice, by cutting the loan you need and by moving you into a lower loan-to-value band where rates are cheaper, which you can test in the loan-to-value calculator. A longer term lowers the assessed monthly payment and can raise the offer, though it costs considerably more interest overall. Shopping across lenders matters too, because the gap between a 4.5 and a 5.5 times lender on a £60,000 salary is about £60,000 of borrowing.
A note on the figures
Loan figures apply 4.5 and 5.5 income multiples to gross annual salary. The monthly costs assume a 25-year repayment mortgage at a fixed 4.5% with Bank Rate at 3.75% in mid-2026. The capacity lost to monthly commitments is calculated as the loan that payment would otherwise support on the same terms. That is an approximation of how lenders treat it rather than any single lender's model. Real offers depend on your credit history, employment type, deposit, and the individual lender. For the rule changes see the Financial Conduct Authority, and confirm your own position with a regulated mortgage broker.