Don’t know why but I got thinking about mortgages and how much these days you could borrow. So on my current mortgage provider they have a calculator, so imagine me and my wife both earn 30K..

As a single I could borrow £112500 and so could my wife, but as a joint mortgage we would get to borrow £165000… However a single earning £60000 can borrow £225000 i.e. double

How come we can’t? two things (a) we’d take home more net pay and (b) at if one us of loses our job there’s still at least the other’s income..

Just curious really, anyone know why?

Perhaps there is an assumption/expectation/whatever that a couple might have, or soon have, children and therefore cripplingly low disposable income for years, hence the 3.5x1st and 1.5x2nd traditional multiples (something like that)? Purely speculation though.

I would guess it’s based on the probability of a split up in the relationship.

Yeah didn’t think of those, makes sense in a way, I wonder what the probability of a split up is?