Immediate pathway · can I afford to buy?
Can you realistically afford to buy? Find out properly, not roughly.
An online calculator's maximum figure is not a budget. Use this route to build an honest picture of your finances, understand deposit targets, and turn that into a realistic price range before you start looking.
This pathway explains how to assess affordability in England. It is education, not a lending decision, credit assessment or financial advice.
Your route
Four lessons, in a sensible order.
Open each lesson for the explanation, questions and calculator. Every link is part of the full 48-step journey.
- 1
Start here
Your Finances Today
Build an honest snapshot of income, spending, debts and savings before any target price means anything.
- 2
Once you know your numbers
Build Your Deposit
Understand deposit targets, LTV bands, LISAs and gifted deposits, and what they do to your budget.
- 3
Before you search
What You Can Afford
Combine income, deposit and a stress-tested rate into a realistic price range, not a lender's maximum figure.
- 4
When your numbers are ready
Get an Agreement in Principle
Get a lender's provisional indication of your borrowing power to confirm your range is realistic.
Practise the decision
A maximum offer is not a budget.
Try this before you treat any online calculator's number as your target price.
Practise the decision
A lender says you can borrow more than feels comfortable. What next?
An online affordability calculator suggests you could borrow up to £320,000 based on income alone, but you have not accounted for your current spending, planned changes, or an interest-rate rise.
Questions to carry with you
Keep the conversation useful.
Take these to a broker or lender once you have a realistic range in mind.
- What rate did this estimate stress-test against, and what happens to my budget if rates rise further?
- Does this figure account for my actual monthly spending, or only my income?
- What is the true cost of buying — deposit, tax, legal work, survey and moving — on top of the mortgage?
- What would I need to change about my finances to comfortably afford a higher price, if I wanted to?
Once you know your range
Learn how to compare brokers and lenders.
Understand how to search the mortgage market and compare advice fairly before you commit to one.
Open the broker and lender lesson