House prices in northern Ireland brexit effect.

Legacy_user

Hello folks. I understand that there's already a thread discussing house prices after brexit but I can't read through all of it to see if it has been covered.

I'm just looking people's quick opinions and prediction.

I currently have a house that I inherited (with a mortgage still left)and in working out options. If house prices were thought to go down may make sense selling now and buying down the line.

I work abroad so don't need anywhere to live there anytime soon but would want to buy there even just for rental options and if I ever returned.

kinger101

In my option, they'll go up or down.

MalMonroe

Nobody can ever forecast the future, unfortunately. If it were me, I'd want to sell the property and pay off the mortgage. You don't seem to know what condition the property's in, or whether or not you will be returning. If you sell, then you won't have the headache of worrying about the condition of the property, etc. while it's unoccupied.

System

The condition of the house is excellent as I know. It was built about 20 years ago. Everything well kept.

That's true I don't know if/when I will return but at least at the moment I have something there. While working on paying the mortgage off. If I can hold of the bank for another 12-18 months which I have been able to do for the last year just calling and making third party mortgage payments then I will be able to basically pay the rest of the mortgage in cash and completely own it outright.

However I did consider selling. Because if the house prices are going to drop which of course no one knows for sure (but there are enough people who work in the area and can predict with a decent degree of accuracy ) then I would want to sell before hand. House current value 115k. 40k left on mortgage

In_For_A_Penny_2

There is a cost associated with selling. A cost of being in the market and a potential cost of being out of the market.

A lot will depend on your personal circumstances - what rental yield are you achieving? (are you even renting it out??) mortgage rate, other investments/savings, pension, debt. These would inform my decision not speculating on the housing market which is a fools game.

If that's what you're into then moving a more liquid asset class is likely to be a lot more straightforward

frannyj543 wrote: »

there are enough people who work in the area and can predict with a decent degree of accuracy

Who are these people? What is their track record? What information do they have available that you or I can not access?

tara747

NI is going to suffer more than the rest of the UK as a result of Brexit, even if it goes relatively smoothly.

Prices in NI are more likely to fall than to rise in the next few years, imo.

Maelwys

Depends what part of NI, being honest. Countryside locations it'll always vary wildly from house to house. City/Town prices depend on the state of the City/Town. Some of the smaller towns have been shrinking in population for several years to the point where they're now starting to get derelict; but some of the others are positively booming.

Speaking purely for Belfast, after the last bubble burst, prices in general stayed lower for longer than the rest of the UK. But they've been been rising slowly over the past several years, with City Centre and some East Belfast prices spiking up more quickly than the rest. Lisburn and Castlereagh have been very slow to climb up but seem to be starting to pick up more traction recently (before late 2015 - early 2016 house prices in my area had barely shifted since bottoming out. Currently they're up about 10-20%).

If you're thinking about letting out a property; again it depends on the area along with whether your political leanings match those of any potential tenant (annoying but true). West Belfast generally being more Republican, East Belfast generally being more Loyalist. South (and to a lesser extent, North) Belfast are typically much more mixed. Realistically unless it's in one of the 'Holy Land' districts in the University area (Jerusalem Street, etc) or the "Peace Wall" areas (roughly Sandy Row out towards Twaddell Avenue), you should be OK.

Although Heaven help you if it's in Larne...
:rotfl:

Maelwys

tara747 wrote: »

Prices in NI are more likely to fall than to rise in the next few years, imo.

Unfortunately if there's one thing everyone in Northern Ireland can collectively agree on; it's that the best way for us to get I]whatever it is we feel that we're entitled to[/I is always for us to stubbornly demand more.

I can't see many people here putting their prices down anytime soon, Brexit or no Brexit, purely out of sheer spite (at the rest of the world in general and in particular at all those bl**dy London bankers for ruining everything for everybody, sod the whole fekkin' lot of them and yes incidentally I am a Loyalist why do you ask?) but whether or not houses actually sell post-brexit is another matter entirely.

That said, there's still a pretty big disparity between Belfast and Dublin house prices at the moment, which ought to keep things in check somewhat. If you don't mind doing a little bit of currency conversion, you can literally sell a house in Dublin, drive 90mins up the motorway to Belfast and buy two houses for the same money.