About ABLE Index
I didn’t build ABLE Index to tell people what they could borrow. I built it to understand what life would actually look like.
Why I built this
I work in finance. But when it came to deciding where my own family could realistically live, I kept running into the same problem: everything focused on how much we could borrow, and nothing helped answer the more important question — would this actually work for our life?
How it started
ABLE Index began as a spreadsheet I built to make sense of real affordability — not just mortgage repayments, but everyday costs, commuting, and what we’d genuinely have left at the end of the month.
Over time, that spreadsheet became a framework I kept coming back to whenever big decisions came up. Eventually, I realised it could be useful to other people too.
What ABLE Index is (and isn’t)
ABLE Index isn’t about stretching to the maximum number. It’s designed to help people get clarity — combining affordability, budget, location and environment into one simple view.
It also includes practical context like on‑page crime incidents with links to Police.uk crime maps, and school/catchment links via Locrating — so you can explore properly, not guess.
The question that matters most
The real question isn’t “Can I afford this?” — it’s “Will this actually work for my life?”
—
David Gouveia
Founder, ABLE Index