£3,864
House · 28% of net · United Kingdom
How much can I spend on housing from my take-home pay?
This take-home vs a mortgage.
28% of monthly net is the housing cap we use. The full cost of owning lives on OwnerCost — we do not rebuild it here.
£1,082 / month for housing
28% of your £3,864 monthly take-home. Not 28% of gross, not a multiple of salary.
£1,082
71.3%
Open OwnerCost for United Kingdom — the full monthly cost of owning: mortgage, tax, insurance and purchase costs.
A worked example
On the starting £65,000 salary, take-home is £3,864 a month, so 28% of net is £1,082 a month for housing. 28% of gross would be £1,517: £435 more, all of it money that goes to tax before it reaches you.
That is why KeptOffer uses net. The rule is a personal budget, not a lending test: a lender may offer more, and you then have to live on what is left.
28% of net vs 28% of gross
| Salary | Take-home / month | 28% of net | 28% of gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| £35,000 | £2,288 | £641 | £817 |
| £50,000 | £3,143 | £880 | £1,167 |
| £65,000 | £3,864 | £1,082 | £1,517 |
| £90,000 | £5,012 | £1,403 | £2,100 |
What counts as housing cost
In the UK, the monthly cost of owning is the mortgage payment plus council tax, buildings insurance, and service charge and ground rent on many flats. Council tax depends on the property's band and the council.
Count all of it against the 28% figure, not just the mortgage payment.
How to use it
- Treat the 28%-of-net figure as the most you want to spend each month on the whole cost of the home: mortgage, property tax or rates, insurance and fees.
- Then price a real home on OwnerCost, which adds up the full monthly cost of owning, and check what a lender would offer with its affordability calculator.
- If the two numbers are far apart, the gap is the part of your take-home that would go to housing instead of savings and everything else.
What this does not include
- A partner's income: run each salary separately and add the take-home figures.
- Lenders' own affordability tests, which are based on gross income and other debts.
- Deposit, purchase taxes and moving costs, which OwnerCost covers.
Questions people ask
Why 28%?
It is a common budgeting guideline for housing costs. KeptOffer applies it to take-home pay rather than gross, which gives a more conservative and more honest number.
Is this how much I can borrow?
No. It is how much you can comfortably pay each month. For borrowing, use a lender's calculator or OwnerCost's affordability calculator.
Does it include my partner's income?
No. Calculate each salary on the Net page and add the monthly take-home figures, then take 28% of the total.