Should first time buyers wait until after Brexit, or rush and buy before 29th March?

Hi,
If Brexit causes financial woes houses may get cheaper but credit (mortgages) will be harder to get. If you can afford something where you will be happy for possibly up to ten years then buy and consider a fix for at least 5 years so you have some certainty.

We bought in October 2007 just before the financial crash and although our house value fell by at least 30k very shortly after, our mortgage payments, which would have been over £1000 originally after the two year fix, fell to £580 and stayed low. I also think we wouldn't have got our mortgage after lending criteria tightened in the aftermath of the crash.

Our house value is just about back to the level it was before the financial crash (Cornwall) and may fall again with Brexit but if you don't need to sell the size of your repayments/ affordability is more important than the house value.

You could end up paying less (over the 10/25 years) for a 200k house with low interest rates than a £170 k house with high interest rates.

I wouldn't stretch your affordability too much though - especially if you are high earners as you might find it hard to get another job at that salary level if you were made redundant.

Good luck
Tlc

Worked in the city and now in a private equity fund investing in real estate here - in no way an expert but at least I get to sit with a bunch of people who work this market, moral of the story: no one has really any clue, and it takes two smart people with two different opinion to create a market and thus a transaction.
A lot of the funds have pulled out of the UK and freaked out after brexit, that has already happened. Unlike some doom-mongerer in this thread, rates will not increase if Sterling collapse, that muppet at the bank of England lowered rates like there was no tomorrow and printed money like a maniac after the vote. THIS is what destroyed the value of the pound not brexit. If I were you I would be more concerned about the maniac in charge at the BoE right now. Luckily for you he is more concerned about keeping rates low which is good for you and your real estate as long as you own pounds and spend in pounds. </Rant>

There is not that much supply on the market, but there is a tiny bit of distress. Small buyer market here, but very hard to borrow. I had to jump through way too many hoops to extract cash out of two houses recently with my lenders (Woolwich and Santander). This essentially means that no residential owner is over-extended at the moment, which in turns mean that they are not forced to sell. If there won't be any forced sell, prices won't collapse. No one builds enough in this country, and there is massive amount of pant up demand to sustain prices in residential.

You seem to be in a corner of England that doesn't attract Qataris and other new rich distorting the market ie: you are not buying a GBP 5m penthouse in London. This market has a mind of its own but you don't have to worry about it.

Where you are investing is fine. As someone pointed it out, Brexit is used as the bogeyman to blame every problems the UK is having. We have been on top of a 10 year money printing bonanza that has helped asset rich people. We are due for a correction in financial stocks etc... This is just how market cycles work. Luckily for you residential debt in remote corners of England have not been pumped up like they did in 2007.

BUY BUY BUY and don't look back. Don't fix for 5 years, the banksters are charging you a nice premium for that (I would know, I used to be one). It's insurance money you don't need to pay. However, if it allows you to sleep soundly at night go for it, just like you would pay for home content insurance.

Good luck.

I'm also in my 20's and in the process of buying a house. I also had the same concerns as you throughout the process. I decided to just buy ensuring that my purchase would be suitable for at least 5 years if prices did go down a bit.

You can't guess what's going to happen especially with the current theatrics surrounding BREXIT and when you realise that post crash you could be given less money due to stricter lending controls or even refused you just realise you should just take the jump. Like people have said, there are lots of people on this platform that waited for a crash, missed the train and have never brought. I think it's best to do what fits your current situation.