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Unfortunately mortgage interest can no longer be classified as an 100% expense for most people. After tax changes that have happened in recent years and now fully tampered in.
Essentially it means a house that is just braking even and one would assume as it has been for decades no income tax is due because there is no profit, would now be considered profitable as interest is written off at marginal income tax rate.
Meaning you have to put your hand in your own pocket to keep the tax man happy on a property that breaking even.
The solution is to buy high yield (risky) properties or buy cash (unrealistic in london)
this.
I moved recently and decided to take a larger mortgage and keep some savings/investments
Regardless of the size of the mortgage then you get the full benefit of any house price increases (/losses)
Obv more of a risk since both can go up and down, but I took the view that it was likely that I'd make more by having, say, 100k in an ETF and 100k more on the mortgage than not.
The other consideration is the house needs a load of work so if I took the smallest mortgage I could then the house gets no improvements ever.