Move house before baby or after

[Superduperuper]

In a pickle over this one.

We are in the market to buy our first home. We’ve spoken to a mortgage adviser and have saved enough aside for the deposit and legal fees. I’m also pregnant.

The problem is, anywhere we could buy is going to be at least £400, probably more like £500-700 more a month than what we pay in rent for our current house. The rent won’t go up as its housing association and we do like it here, the area is desirable, family friendly and good schools.

Bearing in mind that I have an upcoming maternity leave, some of those months will be SMP which is peanuts and others unpaid which will mean it’s financially really tight to pay the mortgage or I’d have to go back to work much earlier, whereas if we stayed renting for now we’d not have as many money worries and I could have longer off.

AIBU to wait and buy after I’ve gone back to work or have I missed something?

Having just come off mat leave I would honestly say wait it's a mind screw enough nevermind not feeling at home yet.

Plus also the difference in cost at a very expensive time.

We are expecting our first baby and have decided to wait to buy a house until after maternity leave and we have settled back into the new routines x

There was a poster on here the other day who'd had a mortgage quote previously, had since had a baby and was looking to buy a house now. They couldn't borrow as much as they now had a dependent which affected the mortgage equation, even although family would look after child so there were no childcare costs.
Just something to be aware of

Depending how far along you are, it’s unlikely you’d move in before baby arrives. It rarely takes less than 3 months, usually longer. So whilst you might be able to borrow more, you could be moving very close to your due date or with a newborn.

How far along are you? I'm currently 7 months pregnant and we've just bought our first house, the mortgage actually worked out the same per month as our rental - though our rental (if we were staying) is going up by £300/month which would've been unaffordable. We've gone for a fixed deal as well. We started looking to buy when I was 2 months pregnant so it's taken about 5 months.

In your situation I'd probs stay renting if you are sure your rent isn't going to increase, as like you say you'll be financially more stable in a few months time when your mat leave is over. It'll help your application as well as you'll know exactly how much you need to factor in for childcare etc

There are some bargains to be picked up property-wise at the moment, whilst advertised prices remain strong people are accepting quite cheeky offers. There is chat that prices will recover after the election. It’s never an exact science, but if you buy now you might have short time hardship for better long term gain

This. The number of dependents you have limits and reduces the amount a lender will give you for a mortgage.

Once you have a baby the amount a bank will lend you will decrease by quite a bit so as long as you'll still be able to borrow enough then wait till after

We bought the house first as the bank won’t lend you anywhere near as much once you have a dependent.