House prices

[Newbie1999]

Realistically, how much do you think house prices will fall over the next couple of years?

@Oliversmumsarmy The real fall will come in the medium term (next 18-24 months). A slight fall may happen in the short term due to uncertainties, people unwilling to take on more debt etc. but the real problem is the amount of money being flooded into the system which will definitely cause inflation to spike and interest rates to follow to curb inflation.

Look at Bank of America's guidance on the price of gold. They expect it to hit $3000 (it's at $1700 now - close to historic highs over the last 20 years). The report is titled “The Fed can’t print gold” . Plenty of other financial institutions feel the same way. If that isn't a signal of an expected weakness in currency, I don't what is.

So locking in a 5 yr -10 yr fixed rate mortgage now is a good idea?

@Asimovsfutureishere2020 i got a five year fixed when i applied for the mortgage last July. At that time, everyone said I was mad because at that time we expected interest rates to plummet. but the reason i insisted on this was because it was quite hard to get a mortgage as I didn't have permanent residency (DH is a British citizen), and I wanted to ensure I got permanent residency before I remortgaged to ensure an easier process/better interest rates. Permanent residency applications can take quite some time nowadays. I am so glad I got five year fixed rate based on the situation now.

@Desiring thanks.

That it was I am thinking too, with a low deposit/high LTV (90-95%) it’s better to lock in something secure in case interest rates start to shoot up from what seems like a gentle increase of 1%