Brexit jitters on new build purchase - thoughts please

JupiterJack

I'm in a fortunate position to have sold a city centre flat (Edinburgh) a few months ago with intention to pay off some personal and business debt and then buy a new build property and be mortgage free.

New build is on a small estate on the edge of a small village and will not be ready till end of year, so renting with my partner in the meantime. The plan was to have somewhere mortgage free for around 4 years with no unexpected expenses whilst we sort out careers / business etc, then find somewhere we really want to live.

Currently having jitters about pushing the button on the the purchase post Brexit and wondering if it might be worth holding off for a year to see what happens, investing the money elsewhere (around £300k).

Any thoughts?

AnotherJoe

I think house prices falls in the realm of 5-10% are becoming a self fulfilling prophecy, so if I had all the money in cash now I would hold fire for say 3-6 months to see what happens. I think rises on the scale of what has happened in the past year are unlikely on two grounds, (1) Brexit self-fulfilling prophecy and (2) general affordability.

Especially if you are looking to move on anyway, plus a new house notoriously doesn't make much money in the first year or two (as a general rule obviously there will be exceptions) this doesn't seem to be in favour of you buying right now.

So in your particular case, if it was me I'd look at renting for 6 months and then take an assessment of the situation. We've got another 2-3 years before we exit the EU so there will be plenty of good and bad news over that time.

One proviso. Can you pay a small deposit to the builder that will lock you into the price now? For sake of argument, could you pay what would be a non refundable £500 (say)? If so, that might be worth a bet if you think in your locality prices are likely to rise. Obviously if you need to exchange (or whatever it is happens in Scotland that locks you in) in a month or two after paying the deposit, thats a no-no.

sheff6107

I'd say you would be more exposed buying a new build. I'd be much happier buying second hand and avoiding the drop in value as soon as you drive off the forecourt.

My last flat cost £165k brand new in 2007.
I bought it for £98k in 2009.

davidmcn

If things are no more stable in a year's time (which seems likely, especially if there is a second Indyref on the cards) what would you expect to do? Put it off for another year? This could go on for a while...

bitsandpieces

One thing to consider is what the rental market is like where you want to be. I'm lucky enough to be able to rent a decent place for not that much - so I'm fairly relaxed about waiting to see what happens before buying. I might feel differently if I was paying lots of rent for a dump, though...

mrginge

In my simple mind, if less people are buying then more people are renting.
If more people want to rent then rental prices increase.

glasgowdan

Buy a cheaper house? This will mitigate the slight chance of losing money. However, it won't rise much either. Also, new build could be a world of hassle in addition to the lost money upon resale. Why new build?

Which village are you looking in?

Thrugelmir

Doesn't sound as if you are particularly keen on the property. I'd buy somewhere to live. Then use the rent saved to fund a pension.

Crashy_Time

mrginge wrote: »

In my simple mind, if less people are buying then more people are renting.
If more people want to rent then rental prices increase.

Unless maybe there has just been a historic vote that prevents/discourages people coming here who might have rented property? Rental prices are driven by wages/housing benefit anyway, not really to do with numbers who want to rent.

lydriver

I'd work out worst case scenario (instant loss of premium for new build plus possible crash...20%?), then decide if it's too much to lose

bigfreddiel

There's more risk in buying a new build than what BREXIT may do to property values

So just buy a second hand house instead.