Not sure whether I should jump up the house price band and buy a 375k-400k property
Ok, so for context, I currently have four young children and we’re living in a three-bed semi. We have twins, plus another child close in age, so having three sharing a room has been manageable up until now — but realistically, that window is closing quickly. Beyond the bedrooms, the house itself is just starting to feel far too small for us as a family.
We’ve been looking at properties around the £300–325k mark, mainly four-bed houses. They’re nice enough, but in reality they don’t give us a huge amount more living space than what we already have — it’s essentially just the additional bedroom.
When we look higher up, around £375–400k, we start finding properties that are 4/5 beds with much more usable living space, which feels far more suited to a family of six long term. The concern for me is whether that starts pushing us beyond a level I’m genuinely comfortable with financially.
Current position:
- Around £125k equity in our current three-bed semi (already sold, so we’re actively looking)
- £5.5k combined monthly take-home pay
- Around £10k savings
- 43/37 years old
I’ve done some rough calculations and a £275k mortgage over 25 years looks to be around £1.5–1.6k per month, which is roughly 30% of our take-home pay. On paper, it seems achievable and would still leave around £2.5k disposable income each month.
Logically, it feels doable, but my gut is telling me it may be just slightly beyond the point where I’d feel fully comfortable.