Dh desperate to buy first home!

[unimum12]

Will keep it brief.
We are both in our 40's and after years of being stupid with money are finally in a place where we can hopefully buy.
At the moment we private rent a big detached four bed that is perfect for our large family and know that when we buy our budget means we will probably have to lose some space in return for owning our own home.
Our landlady is really good/fair, we pay £850 per month including council tax and even though her situation may change at the moment we expect to be here as long as we want. Any repairs are sorted that day etc.
Dh is desperate to buy now, I'm thinking that with the way everything is we are better waiting a bit?
We have a £40k deposit (20k gifted) and will hopefully buy for around 180k (low cost housing area up north)
Anyone with a crystal ball want to tell me what to do? I'm sure dh would rather buy and take the risk of housing/rates dropping and us paying over the odds just so he can be a homeowner! I on the other hand are perfectly happy to wait and think our 20k deposit we have saved is to precious to just lose if things take a turn?

People have been saying for many years that house prices are bound to drop because of this or that, but although there’s been a very minor dip now and then, they’ve largely kept on rising.
Because of IRs now being higher I don’t think they’ll keep zooming up as they have, but I doubt they’ll drop very much either - we have a housing shortage in the UK. If you’re planning on a long-term home - and you find one that ticks your boxes, I’d honestly just go ahead.
Long term, prices have always gone up.

For a cheap house (180k is v cheap for a family home) any percentage drop would be minimal, and any mortgage rate rises would also not be huge in real terms. So yes buy now!

I would buy - if you're buying a home for long term you can ride out any issues if you're sensible with what you buy.

We're selling our house now, the market is buoyant. People keep talking about a crash but I'm not seeing any signs of it, only that the market is cooling from the craziness of COVID and house prices are levelling off.

Have you considered asking your landlord if they would be willing to sell to you and what they would want for the property ?

moneyweek.com/investments/property/605415/is-now-a-good-time-to-buy-a-house?amp

I’d buy now. 40’s is late for home ownership & you need to get the mortgage paid off before retiring.

With your ages, I would look at buying sooner rather than later. We are older than you and we’ve spent the last 18 months trying to get out of renting and buy our first home. We’re almost there, but if we could have done it any earlier than we were able to, we would have done.

Do you have children?

if you don’t, and aren’t intending on any, personally I’d stay renting and use that money for somebody fabulous holidays as you get older.

You can’t take it with you, and if you’re happy with where you are now and won’t have anybody to necessarily bequeath your wealth to, stumping up £££ for a shortish mortgage might not be the best use for your assets.