[Closed] Buying a property pre-brexit

Nobody knows. If you buy now, fix your mortgage and don't move then you will ride out any dip (if there even is one). Can't see there being a huge crash anyway. Just buy well and within your means

The government can't allow a big crash due to the fact it could bring a lot more down.....

It depends why you are buying. If you’re buying as an investment and as a rental property perhaps hold off

If you’re buying it as a home and you intend to live in it long term then so long as you can afford it you may as well do it.

A lot is made of negative equity but that is only a problem if you need to sell.

As above - lots of good 5 year fixed rate deals at the moment - it’s what I’d (did) do.

Personally id hold tight and see how it goes with the brexit deal & subsequent exit next year but it depends on your eagerness to buy & personal circumstances. Housing market seems pretty dead albeit here in south-east. Can't say I'm too optimistic about the next few years as we transition to going it alone and i suspect it's going to get worse before it gets better

I'd buy now if the right house in the right place that you can afford comes up .Very good mortgage deals at the moment and ok prices may dip, but they'll go up again. It might also be the case that interest rates and thus mortgage costs go up. Nobody knows at all.. but sitting on the fence and doing nothing gets you nowhere when you have no control.  I also assume you're currently renting... That's potentially quite a bit of cash you're burning through going no where useful to you until you decide to buy. Wish I'd just got on and bought years ago.

Fwiw house price wars in SW Sheffield show no signs of slowing up with a couple of folk I know having paid 20% over asking just to get their houses in the last few weeks.

Going through the same thing myself at the moment. I’ve come the the conclusion in my head that there’s that many mocking parts to brexit that no one really knows what’s going to happen and what the knock on effect to the house market actually will be, although Mark carney’s words weren’t too re-assuring. I’m taking the view of if you can afford what you’re buying, not over stretching yourself and buy well ie something that’s likely to be in demand and can ride out any dip you may as well go for it. Any slump in prices will take 6-9 months post brexit to really manifest itself, so in the coming year you could be paying a lot of dead rent.

alternatively, wait 3 months and we’ll have a better idea of what scale of farked we’re actually on!

I’d buy now but leave yourself some leeway in the mortgage, if Labour get into power and we see a return to the 15% interest rate it will cost you a lot more. Don’t think we will see much of a swing in house values, however we don’t know at all sides consistently lie about the outcome to suit there own view.

The government can’t allow a big crash due to the fact it could bring a lot more down…..

🤣👏💩

High Peak, you know that govt.s can't set interest rates, right?

APF

Yes I I also remember the 70s and paying those interest rates in the country that wasn’t performing, we could end up back in the spend spend years and rates will go up.

we could end up back in the spend spend years and rates will go up.

LOL I think the magic money tree is very blue these days 😉

How much have recent governments spent propping up a housing market in the last decade

Not if you buy a house in Stockbridge it's such a shithole it would be nigh on impossible to lose out.

And the dull answer is set up a spreadsheet. Say over the next 3 years, tot up how much you will spend on rent. Then on another tab calculate what you can buy (for your income and deposit), what the total you will pay off the mortgage is in that 3 years, and any difference in outgoings. Add on solicitors fees and mortgage arrangement fees (and stamp if you aren't a first time buyer). How big a difference is there in 3 years compared to renting? That is effectively how much you can afford to lose by buying. If you are acquiring more than 5% of the property valueby buying rather than renting  I would risk it. If you only break even after all the fees after 3 years, save up more to get a better rate (better deposit = better loan to value = better rate) and see how house prices vary.

The problem with talking about high interest rates (e.g. 15% of the 80s) is that, historically, renters are hit worse than home owners. We still all need to live somewhere and investment property will typically have higher interest payments, worse inflation and higher defaults than home owners.

Simple answer is we don’t know but I think it’s something the Op should think about and calculate a budget that can cope with an interest or cost of living rise. If it works out well they have money in the bank.

IMO it's more to do with the security and prospects of your job than brexit per se. If you have a settled situation for say 10y then buying sounds sensible to me.

if Labour get into power and we see a return to the 15% interest rate it will cost you a lot more

As above, governments don’t set interest rates, the Bank of England do. And the man who runs that has said 3.5-4.5% is the “new normal” for a base rate. Equally the economic circumstances that caused 15% base rates are very different to where we are now

Mark doesn’t set rates on his own, he’s had many detractors over the recent couple of years. Thankfully those detractors have been proven wrong time and time again.

IMO there will be a market shock, like there was in London after the vote result. If you aren’t in London then the shock will be less but still substantially effective to place those new into the market on a tight squeeze for at least 5yrs.

The choice you have to make is can you survive 5yrs on current earnings, provided you don’t loose your job?

Tricky investment times indeed.

Whilst it is true house prices may fall the wages in the forced labour camps will be sufficiently low to make you feel like you're making a big investment - should you survive the plague years

Buy now. Autumn is the best time to buy coz usually people put their house up for sale spring/early summer. The ones are up for sale now have likely been up for sale for a while plus everyone wants to complete before xmas so as a renter you're ready to go. To hell with brexit ... how much difference is it going to make to a house price that you're looking at? or rates? minimal if at all...get it bought and start shopping for curtains.

Back in the day when interest rates were up at 15% the government set them. The setting of interest rates didn't happen until Blair first got in if my memory serves me right.

just buy. Its a home and over a long period of time it will appreciate in value...guaranteed. It might have the odd blip here and there but its a long term thing.

Rent's dead money always better off investing in appreciating assets.

Just buy. I jumped off pre crash in 2007, and was feeling all quite smug with myself having done up a property and pocketed some fat profit and nice interest each month on the cash at 6 percent. I elected to then hang fire for a few years. Didnt buy again till 18 months ago.

End result is i now have a mortgage, if id forgotten about the crash and just stayed on the ladder id have no mortgage now and A house that is worth 5x the profit i made back then.