How much could you borrow?
See what a wide panel of lenders might lend you for your new-build purchase — built by our sister site MortgageAffordability.
This is an information tool, not advice: it doesn't give a recommendation, a decision in principle, or a guarantee any lender will lend to you.
The affordability check runs your income and deposit against a wide panel of UK lenders to give you an indicative borrowing range. It's a different question from the ones our own new-build tools answer: how much you could borrow is separate from whether a builder incentive package, a down-valuation, or a warranty provider changes what a specific new-build lender will actually do with your case.
The affordability panel doesn't know your property is a new-build at all — it has no view of builder incentives, valuation risk, or offer-expiry timelines. Treat the figure it gives you as a starting ceiling on borrowing power, then narrow it using the new-build-specific tools linked below before you commit to a plot.
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How new-build factors change the picture
An affordability range doesn't tell you how a lender treats a builder incentive package. From our own verified new-build criteria: Nationwide caps builder cash incentives at 90% LTV and declines the case outright once total incentives pass 5% of the price, while Halifax instead applies a 95%-of-price "mortgage-plus-incentive" gate for houses that typically shrinks your maximum loan — though it too can decline once incentives exceed that gate. The two lenders treat the same £25,000 deposit gift very differently — see the exact figures for every lender we track on the incentive calculator.
The affordability check also has no view of down-valuation risk, which hits new-build purchases harder than any other property type. In one of our own worked examples: agree £300,000 with a 10% deposit, and if the surveyor values the completed home at £285,000 instead, the lender only supports 90% of the lower figure — leaving you needing to find an extra £13,500 to complete at the same price and LTV (see our down-valuation guide). Run your own numbers on the down-valuation calculator.
Timelines matter too: from our verified offer-validity data, Nationwide's new-build offer is valid for 9 months with no extension mechanism at all (just a 15-day grace period), while NatWest allows two further 3-month extensions, taking its total window to 12 months. If your build is likely to run long, check the offer validity checker before you rely on an affordability figure that assumes a quick completion.
FAQ
Does the affordability check know about my builder incentive package?
No — it works from income, outgoings and deposit, the same way it would for a resale purchase with no incentives at all. It won't reflect how a deposit contribution, cashback or paid stamp duty changes your effective deposit or the LTV a lender assesses you at. Use it for a borrowing-power ceiling, then run the same numbers through our incentive calculator.
Does it factor in down-valuation risk on a new-build?
No — the affordability figure assumes the lender values the property at the price you enter. New-build valuations coming in below the agreed price is a separate, and common, risk that can shrink the loan a lender will actually support regardless of what the affordability check said. Check your exposure on the down-valuation calculator and the premium checker.
Is this the same lender panel as your other new-build tools?
No — this affordability check is built and run by our sister site, MortgageAffordability, against its own wide lender panel. Our new-build tools (incentive calculator, down-valuation calculator, offer-validity checker, warranty checker and premium checker) are built separately, on a panel of lenders whose new-build-specific criteria we've individually verified.
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