Would you buy now or wait and rent?

[Bubbean]

Hi,
Hoping for any wisdom that can be offered!
We currently rent in the south we also own a house that we rent out in north London. We have just been given permission for my husbands job to be permanently home based so we are going to move up north near family. Ideally we would like to buy but realise the stamp duty holiday will will soon come to an end so could be a rush and there isn’t a lot on the market at the moment anyway. We plan to hold onto our house to continue to rent it to our amazing reliable tenants, we also have a lot of equity in the house which we can release to buy a second property. Our borrowing prospects are good right now abs interest rates are low so in many ways it’s a good time to buy but dont want to rush. So is it best to rent get to know an area then buy next year or will it be harder to get a mortgage? We could also potentially sell our house next year and avoid a more hefty CGT further down the line. Anyone got any predictions on the property market that I have not sussed yet? Thanks

I'd wait a short while. My friend is having her house valued during her divorce and all the valuations are coming with the caveat that the estate agents fully expect a big drop in prices from January/February

Thank you, that’s really helpful. I’m looking at rentals now x

Even without the potential for a market drop I’d rent for a bit first. It’s hard to figure out areas if you aren’t living locally

If you aren’t 100% familiar with the area you want to move to, I’d rent first so your eventual house purchase is a well-informed decision.

In terms of working out whether to release equity or sell the London house etc you just need to sit down and do the Maths or do it with an IFA thinking about long term goals.

Personally, I like to have my money invested in different things so maybe a smaller rental but more money in pension and more liquid investments like stocks and shares. I’d also want to have the peace of mind of having little/no mortgage on the new main home although that wouldn’t be the wisest move from a purely financial point of view.

With regards to house prices dropping, it’s something that’s been predicted for a while but it really varies from area to area. I would pass up on a strong house to carry on renting for another year or two hoping for prices to drop. It’s also worth bearing in mind that during recessions barely any properties come onto the market so it could be a very long wait.

Not dropping in our area at all and indeed increasing. If you ever lived in the N London property there are various exemptions and reliefs which mean YOU MAY pay hardly any CGT. I would buy and take advantage of the stamp duty holiday. If you are moving North to be near family they can warn you off any dodgy areas

There are suggestions CGT rates and allowances will need to be closer aligned to income tax. Sooner.

Thanks so much for your advice everyone