Loan Amount

Borrowing capacity

Knowing your borrowing capacity is the most important step that you can take before starting to look for a property. You’ll find out how much you can spend and this will quickly assist you to establish what type of property you can afford.

The Lenders use two key determinants when looking at how much you can borrow: your loan Deposit and your income.

Assuming you have enough deposit to qualify for a loan, the Lender will look at how much you earn and therefore how much you can afford in repayments. This calculation also takes into account current debt (including credit cards), how many children or dependents you have, and any other ongoing commitments you may have (ie Health Insurance).

Mortgage Express Advisers have access to the borrowing capacity calculators of over 15 lenders and can calculate which lender will best suit your needs. You can also calculate your loan repayments, if you wish to consider your own budgeting requirements.

Pre-approval may also help determine which lender will be the most suitable, this may provide some confidence when negotiating on your new property.

 

Interest Rate Type	Advantages	Disadvantages
Fixed interest rate loans	You know exactly what your repayment will be, making it easier to plan your budget Often there are some good 'special' fixed term rates You can lock in a good fixed term rate if the market interest rates are rising	Can be more diffi cult to make extra repayments Floating rates could drop and you would stay on a higher fixed rate You are locked in for the period you signed up for and could incur 'break fees' to terminate early
Floating/variable interest rate loans	You can make a lump sum payment or extra payments at any time without penalty You can refinance the loan at any time without penalty If interest rates drop your loan repayments will reduce	If interest rates rise, your mortgage repayments will increase as well The interest rate may be higher than a fixed rate mortgage
Split interest rate loans	Can make extra repayments without penalties on the floating rate portion You have certainty over the fixed portion of the loan It gives you a mix of interest rates so any rises and falls will not cause big changes in your repayments	Rising interest rates will affect the floating portion of your loan You need to decide how much to put in each portion