Is now a good time to buy for FTBs

Sarah1Mitty2

tbo127 said:

It’s hard to know if you buy and then you’ll regret it a couple of years later. 

Imagine taking the advice to pile in two years ago, and fixing at a super low rate for two years, then coming off that fix now?

Sarah1Mitty2

MEM62 said:

tbo127 said:

Is now a good time to buy for first time buyers given the falling property prices? 

If not now then when?  

If you need somewhere to live you can either buy or rent.  The former is an investment, the latter isn't.    

It isn`t really, it is a highly illiquid  (and for many people now a highly leveraged) asset that is very difficult to sell in property downturns/crashes and you can lose your deposit and also go into negative equity where you would need the banks permission to sell, and if borrowing mortgage debt you are exposed to interest rate fluctuations for decades (you can fix but not for the full term of the mortgage) You can walk away from a rental, you can`t walk away from a mortgage debt.

Sarah1Mitty2

tbo127 said:

Is now a good time to buy for first time buyers given the falling property prices? 

Far too early to jump in just now, imagine piling in five years ago and fixing for five, then coming off that fix now? You need to wait for interest rates to find their ceiling, wait for people to accept that rates are not going to be cut to historical lows again unless there is a major global economic meltdown, and wait until all this feeds through to prices. Are you using PropertyLog to get a feel for what sellers are doing?

RelievedSheff

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

tbo127 said:

It’s hard to know if you buy and then you’ll regret it a couple of years later. 

Imagine taking the advice to pile in two years ago, and fixing at a super low rate for two years, then coming off that fix now?

Yes imagine having an extra two years worth of equity in your asset. How terrible that would be! 

jimbog

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

MEM62 said:

tbo127 said:

Is now a good time to buy for first time buyers given the falling property prices? 

If not now then when?  

If you need somewhere to live you can either buy or rent.  The former is an investment, the latter isn't.    

 You can walk away from a rental

where would you walk to?

Sarah1Mitty2

jimbog said:

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

MEM62 said:

tbo127 said:

Is now a good time to buy for first time buyers given the falling property prices? 

If not now then when?  

If you need somewhere to live you can either buy or rent.  The former is an investment, the latter isn't.    

 You can walk away from a rental

where would you walk to?

 Another place to live.

Sarah1Mitty2

RelievedSheff said:

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

tbo127 said:

It’s hard to know if you buy and then you’ll regret it a couple of years later. 

Imagine taking the advice to pile in two years ago, and fixing at a super low rate for two years, then coming off that fix now?

Yes imagine having an extra two years worth of equity in your asset. How terrible that would be! 

At double or more the original monthly mortgage payments for many people it is a disaster, but as you said on another thread that no one is struggling with their mortgage it obviously isn`t something that affects you.

Bigphil1474

Mstty said:

Wages are also significantly up which negates some of the mortgage increase.

Which will in turn slow down any house price decreases.

A bit of inflation (couple of years) isn't necessarily a bad thing long term.

Some of the population will need to renew mortgages in the next year or so, but should be getting paid more. Conversely those already on a fix at a good rate for a few years have more money to play with due to the higher wages.

It's not all doom and gloom.

If you can afford it buy as soon as you can.

Unfortunately wages aren't significantly up for a lot of people. My wage, and the other few million people who work in the public sector, has 'gone up' by about 4% to maybe 6% this year, so really gone down. (4.2% for me). Around a 20% cut since 2010. A bit of inflation isn't a bad thing, rampant inflation compared to the norm in the UK definitely is, especially given where the inflation came from i.e. essentials like food, energy, fuel. My wage rise this year will just about cover the extra I need to pay on energy when my fix ends in October.

I don't think wage rises will have much impact on house price decreases whilst ever wage rises are below inflation, so pretty much doom and gloom if you have a mortgage and need to find a new deal, or are a first time buyer.

BeerSavesMoney

We are FTB’s and are buying a new build which is due for completion soon. 

Yes, mortgage rates are higher but I personally can’t wait to get away from renting which I have been doing for many years.

RelievedSheff

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

jimbog said:

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

MEM62 said:

tbo127 said:

Is now a good time to buy for first time buyers given the falling property prices? 

If not now then when?  

If you need somewhere to live you can either buy or rent.  The former is an investment, the latter isn't.    

 You can walk away from a rental

where would you walk to?

 Another place to live.

You say that as though it is so easy to walk into a new rental.

The reality being of course that there is a chronic shortage of rental property available with rents rising massively.