April 19 identified as 'mortgage freedom day' for UK home owners

Wednesday has been identified as "mortgage freedom day" - when home owners will have earned enough to cover the annual cost of their mortgage.

Halifax calculates that April 19 is the date when home owners across the UK will typically have earned enough this year so far to cover their mortgage payments for the rest of 2017, at £7,968 typically.

The calculations are based on typical mortgage payments for a new borrower with a 30% deposit, with an average take-home income of £26,810.

The research calculated mortgage freedom day by assuming a borrower would be putting all their earnings towards their mortgage repayments until they had earned enough to cover their annual mortgage cost.

With wide variations in house prices across the UK, mortgage freedom day fell in March for home owners in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, according to the research.

Home owners in London will have to wait until June 27 to celebrate mortgage freedom day - and those in Haringey in London will need to wait until September 6.

While home owners in Haringey have the longest wait across the UK to reach mortgage freedom day, those in West Dunbartonshire in Scotland have the shortest wait, with mortgage freedom day for them falling on February 26 typically.

Halifax also calculates that "rental freedom day" - when tenants across the UK have earned enough to cover their annual rent - falls later than mortgage freedom day, on May 6. Rental freedom day is based on the average rent for a three-bedroom house.

Chris Gowland, mortgages director at Halifax, said: "Our research is a simple way of comparing mortgage and rent payments, quite often the largest financial commitment people make, across the UK using average regional earnings.

"Whilst it excludes other living costs, the research highlights a divide between the North and the South, with those in the South having to wait longer to reach 'mortgage freedom' than their counterparts in the North."

Here are the dates for mortgage freedom day at a national level, according to Halifax:

:: Scotland, March 14

:: Northern Ireland, March 15

:: Wales, March 23

:: England, April 27

Here are the dates for mortgage freedom day across the regions of England, according to Halifax:

:: Yorkshire and the Humber, March 25

:: North West, March 29

:: North East, March 25

:: East Midlands, March 26

:: West Midlands, April 14

:: East Anglia, April 13

:: South West, May 6

:: South East, May 31

:: London, June 27

And here are the dates for rental freedom day - when renters will have earned enough to cover their annual rent, according to Halifax:

:: North East, April 6

:: Yorkshire and the Humber, April 7

:: North West, April 14

:: East Midlands, April 19

:: West Midlands, April 26

:: East Anglia, April 22

:: South West, May 27

:: South East, June 13

:: London, July 29