MW: IS buying cheaper than renting?

IveSeenTheLight

geneer wrote: »

One wonders how anyone who sold in london near peak and bought in Edinburgh post crash has lost anything.

Will you get it straight for once geneer.
Please show statistically, with links where house prices in Edinburgh had "crashed" in 2010 when compared to 2007?

The Registers Of Scotland Executive Agency appears to show that prices were relatively similar

chucknorris

abaxas wrote: »

Your home is only as secure as you job.

That depends on your circumstances, it certainly does not apply to me.

wotsthat

geneer wrote: »

Suggesting that there nothing to lose and quite a bit to be gained by sitting on the side lines for a bit.

It only suggests that if

a) you can't be arsed to do your own maths
b) you take any thing Moneyweek or Capital Economics says at face value.
c) 'nothing to lose' means you ignore the risk of prices going up

Don't forget that whenever these sums are done the assumptions are biased towards the renter to make things 'fair'. Most people will find that the real world is somewhat different.

ruggedtoast

RenovationMan wrote: »

Is that on your current mortgage rate with a decent APR or on one of the punative northern rock type 100% mortgage rates?

I guess the only way to look at this is for each potential FTBer to examine their own finances and see if they are better or worse off buying or renting. Someone with zero savings couldn't get a mortgage anyway and so the discussion is moot. Someone with a decent amount of savings that represented 25% of the initial purchase price of a house could get a decent mortgage rate and so would more than likely be better off owning as far as housing costs are concerned (but perhaps not for other reasons such as job mobility, lifestyle etc.)

As I said, it's difficult to compare owning vs renting on a purely theoretical standpoint because there are too many variables and too many unknowns. If the Potential FTBer feels that s/he is better of renting, then rent. If not, then buy.

I quite agree. There is nothing wrong with renting, and the financial benefits arent entirely compelling.

The average UK citizen now has two unhappy options.

a) Pay far too much for a house and have the life squeezed out of you for 25 / 30 years servicing the mortgage.

b) Pay far too much rent for a house and have the life slightly less squeezed out of you by a landlord, but for a longer period.

Good old Britain.

Dan:_4

ruggedtoast wrote: »

I quite agree. There is nothing wrong with renting, and the financial benefits arent entirely compelling.

The average UK citizen now has two unhappy options.

a) Pay far too much for a house and have the life squeezed out of you for 25 / 30 years servicing the mortgage.

b) Pay far too much rent for a house and have the life slightly less squeezed out of you by a landlord, but for a longer period.

Good old Britain.

point a must be the smarter move. You will have something that's yours and will increase in value over the 25 years.

ruggedtoast

@Dan

Not an option for many sadly.

Dan:_4

ruggedtoast wrote: »

@Dan

Not an option for many sadly.

Agreed. But this nothing new.

ruggedtoast

Historically no, but we aren't meant to be retreating back to workhouses and Victorian living conditions.

Theoretically by now we should all be wearing silver jump suits, being served by robots and planning our next vacation to Jupiter.

Somethinng has gone wrong.

quantic

Bought my first house last year, next door pay £200 more than us to rent the other half of the semi (I have a 20 year mortgage and put down 10%).

Pimperne1

Putting aside all the "Is it cheaper to buy than rent" the important aspect for me is "If you can afford it how much nicer is it to buy than rent"?

Although I am currently renting for a relatively short period I would hate to be doing it for any protracted period. Security of tenure, having to get on with someone that you might not like, inability to do what you want with the place and not knowing what the rent will be at the end of the tenancy would all weigh heavily on me. There are probably many more aspects that don't spring to mind.

I am very sympathetic to those who cannot afford to buy at today's prices but I have absolutely no sympathy for those who could buy but who choose to rent (even if the local authority take my property off me to pay for my care when elderly - if I thought this was an option I would live in a nice private residential care home until my equity had reduced to the minimum anyway).