mortgage payment question in the ILR application form

There is a question in the ILR application form, which asks, "Is the residence/flat owned by you?"..."How much is the monthly mortgage payment?".

Any idea, why this question is asked? Obviously, if you have paid up large part of your mortgage, the monthly payment will be less.. Interestingly, there is no question on the total value of the home / mortgage, which may to some extent indicate, how much you have invested in the home..

The idea is not to calculate your investments etc. they want to know how much your monthly outgoings are so that they can get an idea of your affordability i.e. whether you can survive without any recourse to public funds. This certainly is not the only deciding factor but is an indicative.

as Cisadi says... they ask you what your monthly income is, and they ask you what your mortgage payments and other monthly outgoings are

from these answers (and looking at your bank statements) they do a simple income - outgoings = how much you have to live on, to see if you pass the test of being able to support yourself without recourse to public funds