What mortgage can you get on £120,000?
A £120,000 gross salary typically supports around £540,000 of mortgage. Here is the monthly repayment, what each deposit size buys, and what pulls the number down.
A £120,000 salary typically borrows about £540,000
That is 4.5 times gross annual income, the multiple most UK lenders work to — roughly £3,001 a month over 25 years at 4.5%. Your deposit sits on top of it, so it raises your maximum price pound for pound without changing what you can borrow.
| Income multiple | Borrowing | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| 4× | £480,000 | £2,668 |
| 4.5× (typical) | £540,000 | £3,001 |
| 5× | £600,000 | £3,335 |
What each deposit buys you
At £540,000 of borrowing, the deposit you can raise decides the price bracket — and which loan-to-value band you price at.
| Deposit | Cash needed | Max price |
|---|---|---|
| 5% | £28,421 | £568,421 |
| 10% | £60,000 | £600,000 |
| 15% | £95,294 | £635,294 |
| 25% | £180,000 | £720,000 |
Deposit shown as a share of the purchase price, which is how lenders quote loan-to-value. Cash needed is the deposit alone — stamp duty, conveyancing and survey fees come out of savings on top of it.
Why a lender might not lend you £540,000
The multiple is the ceiling. What decides whether you reach it is the affordability assessment, which works from your net pay and subtracts what you are already committed to: credit cards and loans, car finance, childcare, student loan deductions, and a per-child allowance for dependants. Each of those reduces borrowing by more than its monthly cost, because the lender capitalises it over the whole term.
The figure is then stress-tested — checked against a materially higher interest rate than the one you are offered, to see whether it still works when your fixed period ends. That is why a cheaper headline rate does not buy a bigger mortgage, and why a longer term often does.
Treat everything on this page as an estimate. Lenders differ in how they treat bonus, commission, overtime and self-employed income, and the spread between the most and least generous on the same application can be substantial. Only an agreement in principle from a lender is a number that binds them.
Frequently asked questions
- How much mortgage can I get on a £120,000 salary?
- Most UK lenders work to around 4.5 times gross annual income, which puts a £120,000 salary at roughly £540,000 of borrowing — about £3,001 a month over 25 years at 4.5%. Your deposit is added on top to give the maximum property price.
- What house price can I afford on £120,000?
- It depends entirely on your deposit, because the deposit raises the ceiling pound for pound. With 10% down you would be looking at homes up to about £600,000; with 25% down, up to about £720,000. The borrowing stays the same in both cases — the deposit is what moves.
- Can I borrow more than 4.5× on a £120,000 salary?
- Some lenders stretch to 5 times income, which would be about £600,000, and a few go further for higher earners or certain professions. It is not automatic: the affordability assessment still has to pass at a stressed interest rate, and credit commitments, childcare and dependants are deducted before it does.
- What if we are buying together on £120,000 each?
- Joint applicants normally have both incomes added together before the multiple is applied, so two £120,000 salaries are assessed as £240,000 — roughly £1,080,000 of borrowing. Both applicants' debts and commitments are counted too, so the increase is rarely a clean doubling in practice.
- What would stop me borrowing £540,000?
- The income multiple is a ceiling rather than an offer. Loans, car finance, credit card balances, childcare costs, student loan deductions and dependants are all subtracted in the affordability assessment, and each reduces borrowing by considerably more than its monthly cost. Clearing a small balance before applying is often the fastest way to raise the figure.
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