UK mortgage affordability with 4x, 4.5x and 5x income multiples, a stress test 3 points above the rate, deposit and loan-to-value and what lenders count.
At 4x, 4.5x and 5x income, a salary of £45,000 points at roughly £180,000 to £225,000 of borrowing, and the calculator below works it out for your own figures. Repayments are a separate question with a separate answer: £80,000 over 25 years at 4.5% costs about £445 a month, and the loan repayment calculator takes any amount and rate. None of this is lender approval, regulated mortgage advice or a recommendation.
Enter what you earn and what you have saved. The multiple is an assumption you can change.
Lenders set their own multiples. This page assumes 4.5 times income and says so; change it to match your lender.
A lender caps what it will lend against your income, and separately checks you could still pay if rates rose. The second figure is that check: the same loan at 3 points higher costs £370.90 more a month. The Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee limits how much of a lender's new lending may sit at or above 4.5 times income; it does not cap any one loan. FCA MCOB 11 requires the affordability check without setting the rate it uses.
| Tax/source year | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Region | England/Wales/Northern Ireland |
| Tax code basis | 1257L where the page uses PAYE defaults |
| Pension basis | No pension deduction unless this example says otherwise |
| Student loan basis | No student loan unless selected in this example |
| Deposit and debts | Deposit size, existing credit commitments, childcare and other bills can matter as much as gross income. |
|---|---|
| Rate and term | Interest rate, term, fees and lender policy can change the repayment pressure. |
| Can I compare this with take-home pay? | take-home comparison |
|---|---|
| How would bills affect affordability pressure? | budget pressure |
| What is not decided here | PayBreakdown does not decide payroll correctness, lender approval, benefit entitlement or employer compliance, and does not give regulated financial, mortgage, debt, tax, payroll or legal advice. |
|---|
The Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee limits how much of a lender's NEW lending may sit at or above 4.5 times income. That is a cap on the lender's book, not on your loan.
It is the difference between "no one will lend you more than 4.5 times" and "most lenders keep most of their lending below it". A lender with room left can go above 4.5; a lender that has used its allowance will not, on the same day, to the same applicant. That is why two lenders answer differently at one salary, and why the multiple in the calculator above is an input rather than a constant.
Nothing published sets the number for an individual. Lenders commonly quote 4, 4.5 or 5 times income. Which one you are offered depends on the lender and on the rest of your application.
FCA MCOB 11 requires a lender to check that you could still afford the mortgage if interest rates rose. It requires the check; it does not publish the rate to use, so the 3-point margin above is a convention rather than a figure anyone has to apply.
That second monthly number is the one worth planning against. A loan priced at 4.5% and tested at 7.5% is the same debt viewed twice: once at today's payment, once at the payment that would arrive if pricing moved. If the stressed figure is uncomfortable against your take-home pay, the borrowing figure above it is the wrong target regardless of what a lender would approve.
Employed applicants are assessed on gross salary, and the calculator above takes that directly. Contracting is where the input becomes a judgement, because there are several defensible answers to "what do you earn".
A lender may work from the day rate annualised over a stated number of weeks, from salary plus dividends taken from a limited company, or from net profit in accounts. Those three can differ substantially for the same person in the same year. Some lenders use a contractor-specific approach; others send the application through their self-employed rules and ask for two or three years of figures.
The practical step is to decide which of those numbers you are entering above, and to expect a lender to ask for the one that suits its own policy rather than the one that suits the answer.
Lenders usually start from a multiple of income, so that is the quickest way to get a rough borrowing range. A single salary or a combined household income can be viewed at 4x, 4.5x and 5x before moving on to repayment, term, rate and monthly commitment checks.
Lenders do not use income multiples on their own. Deposit size, loan-to-value, existing debts, dependants, childcare costs, credit commitments, credit history, property type, interest-rate stress tests and lender rules can all reduce what is affordable.
PayBreakdown links mortgage affordability to take-home pay and combined household income so couples and families can compare gross borrowing ranges with monthly net income, bills, savings and repayment resilience.
Interest rate, term, fees, deposit and the credit commitments you already have all move the result, and a lender applies its own affordability policy and credit checks on top. Treat the number as a way to see whether a repayment looks comfortable or stretched, not as an offer — and read it against your real bills, savings and any income change you expect. See how each deduction is worked out.
Individual salary examples showing 4x, 4.5x and 5x income ranges
Combined household-income pages for joint planning scenarios.
Use take-home pay, household income and budget routes before treating a multiple as comfortable.
What a lender's view of the same salary looks like across other borrowing questions.
No. It is a planning estimate only. Real lender outcomes depend on affordability checks, underwriting, commitments, credit profile, property, product rules, deposit and interest-rate stress tests.
They are simple gross-income multiples used for early planning. For example, 4.5x income multiplies annual gross salary or household income by 4.5 before lender-specific affordability checks.
Yes. Existing debts, dependants, childcare, credit commitments, regular spending and the size of the deposit can all reduce the amount a lender is willing to offer.
Income multiples usually start from gross income, but monthly resilience depends on take-home pay after tax, National Insurance, pension, student loans, bills and savings commitments.
No. PayBreakdown provides neutral planning estimates and calculator links only. It does not recommend a lender, product or borrowing amount.
Last updated 2026-08-27. Checked by Sean Elsmore. Rates last checked against GOV.UK on 2026-08-07. Estimates are for planning and should be checked against official records where the decision matters.