You could potentially borrow £22,500 more depending on which lender you apply to. The amount you can borrow through a mortgage could vary by as much as £22,500 depending on the lender you apply to, according to Which? research.
When buying a property it’s not just the deposit you need to consider; you also need to factor in the size of mortgage you’ll be able to get. While online mortgage calculators will give you a rough idea of how much you might be able to borrow, exclusive Which? research has found that in reality this could vary hugely from lender to lender. Below, we explain how mortgage lenders work out how much to lend you and then reveal those that offer the biggest – and smallest – mortgages.
How much can you borrow for a mortgage? The amount you can borrow will be determined by what the lender thinks you can afford to repay. This will be based on your income and certain outgoings such as childcare, travel, and repayments on existing credit card debts and other loans. Lenders will perform an ‘affordability assessment’ as well as checking your credit history to decide on the amount they’re willing to lend you. As a general rule, lenders will allow you to borrow a maximum of four-and-a-half times your annual income (or the combined annual incomes of you and whoever you’re buying with), but this can vary greatly depending on the provider and their lending criteria, and even the area you’re buying in. This means it can be a bit of a stab in the dark when looking for a mortgage deal and if you choose the wrong provider your property dreams could be unnecessarily dashed.
Where can you get the biggest mortgage? We checked what 10 major lenders would offer to a buyer in the following scenario: Annual income: £30,000 Deposit: £25,000 (which we’re assuming would be at least 10% of the property price) Mortgage term: 25 years We found a huge difference in what lenders would offer – £22,500 in fact; a significant sum when trying to land the property of your dreams.
In the analysis, Barclays offered the biggest mortgage at £150,000 – five times our applicant’s income. In contrast, the Royal Bank of Scotland offered the smallest loan of just £127,500 – or 4.25 times the applicant’s income.