As for me, I'm a current PhD student and my wife just followed me to the UK - and she isn't working at the moment. I was working last year and managed to pull out a mortgage right before the massive recession. I guess currently it will be a bit tough to get a mortgage as a PhD student status, even if you have an excellent credit score. Due to our income range, the bank will definitely lend us way lesser - that's IF they decided to lend us. Personally, I've got a "deferred" mortgage meaning I'll only start paying in 2010 when my property is ready (and also when my PhD finishes). If anything goes wrong along the way, I'm screwed. :-(