Tool · affordability checker
How much could you borrow?
Enter your household income, deposit, and any monthly debt. This applies the two limits UK lenders actually use, the 4.5× income multiple and a stress test on the monthly payment, to estimate your maximum loan and the property price it implies.
Data updated 2026-06-30
- 4.5×
- standard loan-to-income limit
- 5.76%
- default stress rate (rate + 1pp)
How lenders decide what you can borrow
UK lenders apply the lower of two limits. The first is the loan-to-income cap, typically 4.5× gross household income (the level around which the FCA caps the share of high-multiple lending). The second is a stress test: the monthly payment, recalculated at roughly your rate plus one percentage point, must fit comfortably within a flat estimate of your take-home income (this calculator assumes 72% of gross, a simplification, a real lender applies your actual tax band) minus existing debt.
The FCA withdrew its prescribed stress-test rate in 2022; most lenders settled on around the contract/quoted rate + 1pp. The income you enter here is your own figure, this tool loads no personal or earnings data. See the affordability guide for the full method.
According to the Bank of England and HM Land Registry, whose House Price Index draws on more than 1,000,000 registered property transactions a year, the stress rate that pre-fills this checker is loaded from official UK data published under the Open Government Licence, and the Financial Conduct Authority regulates the lenders whose own affordability rules a real decision will follow. Our methodology sets out each source and how often we refresh it.
Every figure on PlainMortgage is rendered directly from Bank of England and HM Land Registry data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Bank of England and HM Land Registry data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-06-30.