Author: Pete Mugleston
Mortgage Advisor, MD
Reviewer: Nathan Porter
Independent Mortgage Advisor
How we reviewed this article:
Our experts continuously monitor changes in the financial space and work closely with qualified mortgage advisors for factual verification.
How far will £2,000 a month get you if you decide to buy a home? The answer is a little more complicated than you might think.
We’ll explain how it all works and give you some tips to help your money stretch further.
What size mortgage can you get for £2,000 a month?
The size of the mortgage you can get isn’t based on what you think you can afford to pay each month. It’s based primarily on your annual income, at a multiple set by the lender, the interest rate of your mortgage and the mortgage term (how long you’ll be borrowing for).
Most lenders allow you to borrow 4.5 times or 5 times your annual income, with some allowing you to borrow 6 times your salary.
To give some examples and assuming your income allows, here is an illustration showing what £2,000 per month looks like over 25 years and between a 4% and 6% interest rate.
Monthly Repayment | Interest rate | Deposit | Term Length | Potential mortgage amount |
---|---|---|---|---|
£2,000 | 4.00% | 10% | 25 years | £378,900 |
£2,000 | 4.50% | 10% | 25 years | £359,800 |
£2,000 | 5% | 10% | 25 years | £342,100 |
£2,000 | 5.50% | 10% | 25 years | £325,700 |
£2,000 | 6.00% | 10% | 25 years | £310,400 |
Your borrowing amount for a £2,000 per month mortgage could range between £310,400 to £378,900.
Mortgage affordability assessments will also look at your debts and outgoings, so if either of these are high, that could limit the amount you can borrow.
To get an idea of how much you can borrow, just enter your annual income into our mortgage affordability calculator below.
Mortgage Affordability Calculator
Use this calculator to determine how much you could potentially borrow for a mortgage, based on the typical salary multiples used by most UK lenders.
Your Results:
You could borrow up to
Most lenders would consider letting you borrow
This is based on 4.5 times your household income, the standard calculation used by the majority of mortgage providers. To borrow more than this, you will need to use a mortgage broker to access specialist lenders.
Some lenders would consider letting you borrow
This is based on 5 times your household income, a salary multiple you might struggle to qualify for without the help of a broker. This income multiple is not widely available to customers who are applying directly with a lender.
A minority of lenders would consider letting you borrow
This is based on 6 times your household income, a salary multiple you will struggle to get without a broker. Six-times salary mortgages are usually only available under very specific circumstances.
Get Started with an expert broker to find out exactly how much you could borrow.
Get StartedGet Started with a Broker
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Factors that affect your monthly repayments
Let’s look at the factors involved and how they might increase or decrease your monthly repayments.
Mortgage term
Changing your mortgage term is one important way you can control your monthly repayments. A typical residential mortgage has a mortgage term of 25 years, but it can be shorter or longer, which will increase or decrease your payments.
To illustrate this, we’ll show how a change in term length will affect how much you can borrow, based upon a £2,000 per month mortgage payment.
20 years
A mortgage term over 20 years, paying £2,000 per month will see a borrowing potential between £279,200 to £330,000.
Monthly Repayment | Interest rate | Deposit | Term Length | Potential mortgage amount |
---|---|---|---|---|
£2,000 | 4.00% | 10% | 20 years | £330,000 |
£2,000 | 4.50% | 10% | 20 years | £316,200 |
£2,000 | 5% | 10% | 20 years | £303,000 |
£2,000 | 5.50% | 10% | 20 years | £290,800 |
£2,000 | 6.00% | 10% | 20 years | £279,200 |
25 years
A term of 25 years will see an estimated borrowing range of between £310,400 to £378,900.
Monthly Repayment | Interest rate | Deposit | Term Length | Potential mortgage amount |
---|---|---|---|---|
£2,000 | 4.00% | 10% | 25 years | £378,900 |
£2,000 | 4.50% | 10% | 25 years | £359,800 |
£2,000 | 5% | 10% | 25 years | £342,100 |
£2,000 | 5.50% | 10% | 25 years | £325,700 |
£2,000 | 6.00% | 10% | 25 years | £310,400 |
30 years
A 30-year mortgage term will enable a potential borrowing range of between £333,600 to £419,000.
Monthly Repayment | Interest rate | Deposit | Term Length | Potential mortgage amount |
---|---|---|---|---|
£2,000 | 4.00% | 10% | 30 years | £419,000 |
£2,000 | 4.50% | 10% | 30 years | £394,800 |
£2,000 | 5% | 10% | 30 years | £372,500 |
£2,000 | 5.50% | 10% | 30 years | £352,200 |
£2,000 | 6.00% | 10% | 30 years | £333,600 |
The above is an estimation as there are many additional factors lenders will take into account, but it should illustrate that if you borrow for a shorter period i.e. 20 years, your borrowing limits will be lower compared to if you borrow over 30 years where your borrowing potential increases considerably, even though your monthly payments of £,2000 stay the same.
Mortgage rate
Your mortgage rate is largely out of your control. Mortgage rates are closely linked to the Bank of England base interest rate, so when interest rates increase, monthly mortgage repayments also increase.
Your mortgage rate also depends on other factors:
Rate type
You can choose between a fixed-rate mortgage (so that your monthly payments stay the same for a certain period) and a variable-rate mortgage (if you don’t mind them going up and down). Most people choose a fixed rate, which means that your monthly payments start a little higher.
You can calculate specifically what your borrowing amount could be if you use the calculator below where you can set the borrowing amount, interest rate and mortgage term to specifically show what your monthly mortgage payment would be:
Mortgage Repayment Calculator
This calculator can tell you the monthly and overall cost of your mortgage, based on the loan amount, interest rate, and term length.
Your Results:
The monthly repayments on a mortgage would be
The total amount paid at the end of your mortgage term would be
Get started with an expert broker to find out how much they could help you save on your mortgage repayments.
Get StartedDeposit size
Buying a home with a low deposit (10% or less) limits your choice of lenders and mortgages so you’ll usually have to pay a higher rate. If you can save a larger deposit, or if you’re buying after building up some equity in property already, you’ll have access to lower rates.
Individual factors
Your profile as a borrower includes things like your employment status and credit history. It’s sometimes more difficult to get a mortgage if you’re self-employed (for example) or if you have bad credit, meaning you’ll have less choice of lenders and may not get the best available rates.
How a broker can help your budget go further
If you want to borrow as much as possible while keeping your repayments at around £2,000 a month, a broker can help with:
Personalised advice
They’ll tell you what you need to do to become eligible for a better mortgage rate, for example, by saving a larger deposit or making recommendations to improve your credit rating.
Expert insight
Making decisions about which mortgage term and initial period are best for you can be daunting. A broker can tell you how much you’ll pay each month for a five-year fixed rate versus a two-year fixed rate, or a 25-year mortgage versus a 30-year mortgage, and help you decide whether it’s worth it.
Access to all lenders and products
If your broker has whole-of-market access (as the ones we work with do), they can compare all of the products that are currently available and recommend a mortgage from any lender. They might have access to deals you couldn’t find by going directly to lenders.
Get in touch if you’d like to speak to a broker today.
Other costs to consider
The mortgages you see advertised with the lowest monthly payments aren’t always the cheapest overall. Deals offering low monthly repayments can also include high mortgage fees. When choosing a mortgage, be sure to check the arrangement fee (which can typically be anywhere from £0 to £1,499) and the valuation fee (usually around £300).
Get matched with a broker experienced in dealing with strict budgets
If you’re ready to apply for a mortgage and you want to bring your monthly repayments as close as possible to £2,000, it’s time to speak to a broker. To ensure you get the best deal, you should choose someone with whole-of-market access and experience in mortgages of this size.
We can connect you with one of the many brokers we work with based on your requirements and their expertise. You’ll just need to give us a few details to allow us to match you with the right person for a free, no-obligation chat. Get in touch on 0808 189 2301 or make an enquiry online.
FAQs
You could likely buy a property worth £800,000 (with a 20% deposit) and expect to pay around £2,000 for an interest-only, buy-to-let mortgage. Your rental income from the property would need to be around £2,500-£2,900.
Buy-to-let mortgages are different from typical residential mortgages in two important ways:
- They’re usually repaid on an interest-only basis, meaning your monthly payments only pay the interest on the loan, they don’t increase your equity in the property
- Affordability is usually assessed primarily on the rental income of the property, rather than on personal factors. Most lenders require that the rental income be between 125% and 145% of the monthly payments.
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About the author
Pete, an expert in all things mortgages, cut his teeth right in the middle of the credit crunch. With plenty of people needing help and few mortgage providers lending, Pete found great success in going the extra mile to find mortgages for people whom many others considered lost causes. The experience he gained, coupled with his love of helping people reach their goals, led him to establish Online Mortgage Advisor, with one clear vision – to help as many customers as possible get the right advice, regardless of need or background.
Pete’s presence in the industry as the ‘go-to’ for specialist finance continues to grow, and he is regularly cited in and writes for both local and national press, as well as trade publications, with a regular column in Mortgage Introducer and being the exclusive mortgage expert for LOVEMoney. Pete also writes for Online Mortgage Advisor of course!
Pete Mugleston
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