Buy a house or sit on the money?

mi-key

GDB2222 said:

The average house price is around £300k, and it’s quite possible that that has dropped £1k a week during the winter. That would work out at around 5%, which is broadly in line with figures from the Halifax. 

I don't think anyone is predicting a reduction of 35 - 50% over the next few years though! despite what crashy wishes would happen.

Looking in my own local area houses coming onto the market now are priced pretty much the same as they were a year ago, so while not any increases, there doesn't seem to be any major reductions

london21

If you need somewhere to live buy.

If you do not need somewhere to live and worried about prices then maybe keep your money in the bank.

gazfocus

MFWannabe said:

gazfocus said:

MFWannabe said:

If you are currently renting why not buy somewhere to live in the area you currently rent in? 

Unfortunately, we can’t afford to buy a big enough house where we currently live (at least without a mortgage), and would be subject to high interest rates due to my wife’s poor credit. 

How much would mortgage payments be compared to rent? 

May be higher interest rates but may still be worth it and you’d have your own property you’re paying off 
Also depends how long it will be until you can get better rates 

We've only investigated BTL mortgages so far so I'm not sure.

gazfocus

Thanks everyone for your replies/comments/thoughts.

We've decided to complete on the house we are selling, then once we have the money in the bank, we will start actively looking for something else. One thing we noticed when we looked originally was that a lot of houses are now coming up on rightmove as auction properties. We weren't able to consider any of those due to needing to sell our house so having the money in the bank will give us the option of going for something like that. We will also be in a better position if we want to apply for a mortgage when we are ready.

theoretica

If you applied for a mortgage now, how much in £ would it actually cost you extra because of your wife's poor credit?  Have you actually talked with a mortgage broker about it?  Because it might be less than the cost of buying and then selling a rental place (conveyancing fees, and stamp duty, and CGT) and you would get to live where you wanted.

GDB2222

mi-key said:

GDB2222 said:

The average house price is around £300k, and it’s quite possible that that has dropped £1k a week during the winter. That would work out at around 5%, which is broadly in line with figures from the Halifax. 

I don't think anyone is predicting a reduction of 35 - 50% over the next few years though! despite what crashy wishes would happen.

Looking in my own local area houses coming onto the market now are priced pretty much the same as they were a year ago, so while not any increases, there doesn't seem to be any major reductions

Round here, there is a two tier market. Houses come on at a sensible price, and they sell quite quickly. Others come on at a high price, and they hang around. I suppose it's always been like that, but the frenzied market of the last couple of years has made it less obvious. 

mi-key

GDB2222 said:

mi-key said:

GDB2222 said:

The average house price is around £300k, and it’s quite possible that that has dropped £1k a week during the winter. That would work out at around 5%, which is broadly in line with figures from the Halifax. 

I don't think anyone is predicting a reduction of 35 - 50% over the next few years though! despite what crashy wishes would happen.

Looking in my own local area houses coming onto the market now are priced pretty much the same as they were a year ago, so while not any increases, there doesn't seem to be any major reductions

Round here, there is a two tier market. Houses come on at a sensible price, and they sell quite quickly. Others come on at a high price, and they hang around. I suppose it's always been like that, but the frenzied market of the last couple of years has made it less obvious. 

Houses near me are definitely taking longer to sell than before. It was pretty normal for them to sell within a week or two of coming on the market, but the majority seem to be selling within 6 weeks still. One bungalow on the main road has just had a sold sign up today though, and that only came on last week.