Not a good time to buy

Sir_Humphrey

silvercar wrote: »

the real danger is that if you were in position to buy and delay you could find yourself unable to buy in the future.

There was a housing bubble in 1972-3 during the Barber boom (yes, there was a bubble during the three day week).

My parents were FTBs in 1973. They thought they would never be able to buy if they did not do so then. That was 1973. The property bus is a return route.

Of course that bubble was unwound by 20-25% inflation, with matching pay rises. Can't see that happening in the next few years.

System

I agree with the thread title.
A good time to buy was a year ago.

westv

Isn't a good time to buy when there is a strong supply of properties available giving the greatest choice to new purchasers?

doire_2

Joeskeppi wrote: »

I agree with the thread title.
A good time to buy was a year ago.

A good time to buy will be when Liebour (spending money thats not theirs) are replaced by the Tories and massive spending cuts come in.

:j:j:j

I loved the quote on QT lastnight

"The current situation is like a drunk man stumbling around and instead of getting his hangover he opts for the hair of the dog" :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

ukcarper

Sir_Humphrey wrote: »

There was a housing bubble in 1972-3 during the Barber boom (yes, there was a bubble during the three day week).

My parents were FTBs in 1973. They thought they would never be able to buy if they did not do so then. That was 1973. The property bus is a return route.

Of course that bubble was unwound by 20-25% inflation, with matching pay rises. Can't see that happening in the next few years.

I was a FTB in early 72 and if I didnt buy then it would have been a few years before I could have.

Sir_Humphrey

ukcarper wrote: »

I was a FTB in early 72 and if I didnt buy then it would have been a few years before I could have.

Indeed, but that is a far cry from saying you could never buy.

N1AK

chucky wrote: »

most people would just buy a house instead of taking the gamble of saving a couple of thousand at the risk of losing out much more money. good luck with that...

'Most people' couldn't work out compound interest with a handbook and calculator and are generally rubbish with money. Personally, I'd take being told I manage my financial decisions differently to 'most people' as a complement :rotfl:

With hindsight, buying at the bottom of the last fall may have been the optimum point to buy. Prices were well down, interest rates were low and if you had the deposit a decent rate fixed mortgage was easy to get. However a strong recovery went agaisnt historic trends and has often led to the type of double dip many were predicting, without this hindsight the decision to buy then was much more risky.

What 2009 has shown is that predicting what house prices will do is extremely hard. I have heard compelling arguements by Bears and Bulls using data, experience and predictions of future events and most of them will be wrong (but which ones!?).

I still feel house prices are unmaintainably high compared to income,, that the economy has a number of hard knocks coming as we adjust from unmaintainable government spending and debt and that interest rates will not remain this low for a long period of time. All these factors make me think that delaying buying is the better choice at this time.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

N1AK wrote: »

With hindsight, buying at the bottom of the last fall may have been the optimum point to buy.

That is pretty much certain.

All these factors make me think that delaying buying is the better choice at this time.

But didn't you think the same thing at what proved to be the optimum point to buy?

Will you be waiting until prices cross their previous peak before buying?

ukcarper

Sir_Humphrey wrote: »

Indeed, but that is a far cry from saying you could never buy.

True but not at that price it’s all down to timing and that’s easy with hindsight so it’s a gamble either way.

carolt

Thought I'd bump this thread for the purpose of interesting discussion.