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what percentage of your income do you spend on housing?

i spend 18.8462% of my after-tax monthly income on rent. it is 23.9744% if you add utilities (electric, gas, cable, water)
 
Less than 20% on rent, prob 25% or so when you include bills. But I rent, have no mortgage, we have quite a sweet deal on our place and I earn ok money, so I am quite lucky as well. :)
 
Can't be arsed to read thread but doesn't it depend on how much the person is earning in the first place?

If for instance, someone is taking home £200 per week, but pays £50 per week rent, they're still not going to be rich compared to someone who takes home £500 per week and pays £100 per week rent are they.

That's the way I look at it anyway
 
Nothing on housing other than council tax and utility bills so not much really.
But when i was paying rent it was about a third of my income, which i thought was the usual for most people.
 
Christ, with bills, considerably more than half - my income's a bit variable and my accounting is poor, but sometimes up to 75% I'd say.
 
The mortgage is around 18% of my net income, cos I live in t'north and we bought the house 12 years ago. Bills are huge, though.
 
As I am currently unemployed our mortgage alone is more than 50% of joint income.:
We have a large mortgage due to always spending more than we earn :o
 
Roughly a third of my take home goes on rent, with bills on top.

I could save a fair whack by going back to housharing but I enjoy living alone too much now.
 
0%

:)

I've managed over 3 years of paying fuckall for my housing. From old farmhouse in the mountains on Andalucia to on the streets to luxury pad with pool and sun terraces to cosy caves. Just a short blip of €20/night hostal accommodation in there somewhere. Now I know how to look after other peoples' homes for free I doubt I'll ever pay rent again.
 
yeah, what's included and as a percentage of gross or net income?

rent/mortgage?
service charges as they are unavoidable if your flat has them?
council tax?

My mortgage (only) is 21% of my net income but with service charge is 27%
 
Rent 28%
Light, heat, waste 5%
Phone/Internet 5%
Commuting to work 15% :(

So if I didn't have the commute I'd be a LOT better off. It's not just the housing costs that matter, it's what else you can't avoid.
 
marty21 said:
it is, i'm lucky, mind you we have to pay out a lot of other stuff that people who rent don't have to - building insurance, repairs, etc, if i add all those on, it shoots past 20% i reckon
Click to expand...

yea, but you could probably afford a pretty decent automobile I would reckon :)
 
blues said:
So if I didn't have the commute I'd be a LOT better off. It's not just the housing costs that matter, it's what else you can't avoid.
Click to expand...

True, when I was looking and failing to buy at first someone suggested moving further out, but I pointed out that I could afford that less as commuting could be £3000 a year where she was suggesting. :eek: travel costs only ever go up, mortgages can come down..
 
blues said:
Rent 28%
Light, heat, waste 5%
Phone/Internet 5%
Commuting to work 15% :(

So if I didn't have the commute I'd be a LOT better off. It's not just the housing costs that matter, it's what else you can't avoid.
Click to expand...

Yup, like debt. I don't have that much, but my GF's debt eats up about £500pm, so I end up supporting her, despite earning much less.

I admire the specific percentages you and DC have come up with, though!

It's weird how the internet has become a necessity, isn't it? I'd count it as one, to be honest, because it means I can be kinda sociable without going out and spending money (or getting babysitting). If I'm unemployed, it's much easier to look for jobs, and if I'm employed, I absolutely do need it for my work - and for all that, it doesn't cost much. Yet, ten years ago, it was a luxury.

All the same, there are many things that can be negotiated; your home is usually the last item that can be negotiated. So how much it takes of your income, and how much it leaves after rent is paid, does matter.
 
scifisam said:
Like Miss Fran says, it's relative. Housing Association flats tend to be cheaper than privately rented flats (which is good), so if your cheap rent is a third of your income, that doesn't leave as much left over. In other words, if you rent privately and pay £600 rent per month, then you have another £1200 left over if rent is a third of your income. If you rent from a housing associaton and your rent is £300pm (number chosen for ease), then you have only £600 left after rent.
Click to expand...



Yup.....................this is almost exactly how my finances work out ^^^^

I wonder if the OP meant me ? If i didn't receive a tax credit top giving me a bit extra i would be fucked as the rent on it's own is nearly half my actual salary and if i added on the bills (not counting food etc) it would gobble up nearly 3 quarters of my actual salary !


Also factor in that i'm not just talking about myself, i have a son to support too !
 
scifisam said:
Yup, like debt. I don't have that much, but my GF's debt eats up about £500pm, so I end up supporting her, despite earning much less.

I admire the specific percentages you and DC have come up with, though!

It's weird how the internet has become a necessity, isn't it? I'd count it as one, to be honest, because it means I can be kinda sociable without going out and spending money (or getting babysitting). If I'm unemployed, it's much easier to look for jobs, and if I'm employed, I absolutely do need it for my work - and for all that, it doesn't cost much. Yet, ten years ago, it was a luxury.

All the same, there are many things that can be negotiated; your home is usually the last item that can be negotiated. So how much it takes of your income, and how much it leaves after rent is paid, does matter.
Click to expand...

I didn't say it didn't matter, I said it's not just the rent that matters. If you're also paying out a significant sum elsewhere (debt for your household, commuting for mine) then you have less %age free income for rent or anything else, so the %age of housing cost alone is not relevant because it's dependant on how much you earn vs what other financial commitments/obligations you have as to whether you can afford the cost, not how much of your income it is.

The phone/internet bill is included here as I included all "living" costs before I actually go out and buy stuff. I would expect mine to be higher than most because I live in a different country to my friends/family, so it's not negotiable for me. All "living costs" should be included in the decision over whether you can afford rent/mortgage IMO, not the rate of rent vs net pay alone.

But then, I'm an accountant, so it'd be pretty poor if I couldn't recognise my own "cost of living" and present it as above :D
 
30.37% of my income goes on having a roof over my head with heat and electric.

Haven't included phone, telly or broadband costs into that. Or maintenance costs either.
 
marty21 said:
no way - waste of money spending a fortune on a car imo - my 10 year old car works fine:cool:
Click to expand...

Thats my view too.

I send £300-£700. Over the space of three years it may depreciate £200 in value. Whereas a new car depreciates in the thousands.

If anything seriously goes wrong with a new car it costs silly money whereas i can just dump my old car and buy another for £300.
 
bluestreak said:
i noticed on another thread someone was expressing upset that their HA flat cost them more than a quarter of their incomes, which i thought was odd because it seems to me that 25% of your monthly or annual costs going on rent/mortgage was a good deal. and every so often someone will trot out a formula for working out if you're spending too much like never spend more than a third on rent... or a half... or if you're eating rice every day you're overstretching yourself etc etc.

This makes me think there isn't actually any answer to what the right amount to spend is. How much do you spend and do you think that's the "right" proportion?

Personally my rent takes up about a third of my weekly income, i wouldn't like it to be more but sometimes i've had to spend half my earnings on rent.
Click to expand...
Amazing how many people seem confused whether the OP was asking about rent/mortgage, or rent/mortgage + bills/debt/goldfish fetish/etc.....:D

Personally, about 40%. (and that's just rent!)
 
EastEnder said:
Amazing how many people seem confused whether the OP was asking about rent/mortgage, or rent/mortgage + bills/debt/goldfish fetish/etc.....:D

Personally, about 40%. (and that's just rent!)
Click to expand...

Some people's rent is bills inclusive so its hard seperate.
 
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