How much can I afford?

Q I am aware that lenders can offer mortgages of up to four times an individual's salary, however, I am concerned about rising interest rates and the long-term affordability of my property.

What is a good mortgage repayment as a percentage of your earnings? Let's assume I earn £1,500 a month after tax, to be comfortable what figure should I be looking at as a buffer?


RT

A This is one of those how-long-is-a-piece-of-string questions to which there is no single right answer.

The size of mortgage that you can comfortably afford depends on all sorts of things, such as how much of your income is already committed to paying off other loans, whether you find it hard to make ends meet at the end of the month or - more positively - whether you find it easy to meet all your current commitments with cash to spare.

So - and sorry to be boring - what you need to do is sit down and draw up a detailed budget of all your monthly income and outgoings - including incidental stuff like spending on holidays, socialising and clothes.

This exercise should help you arrive at a reasonably precise figure for an affordable monthly mortgage repayment and can also help to identify areas where you need to cut back in order to make your mortgage affordable.