Selling and going into rented

[frank2011]

We have sold our house but haven't found anything we like. Will be such hassle going into rented but no option. We are moving to a more expensive area and getting what we want will mean much bigger mortgage sadly.
Do you think it's worth staying in rented long term to wait for prices to come down. Last time we bought at top of the market and have been forced to stay put as house decreased in value- will be gutted if this happens again although this time we want it to be our forever home.

We have just done the same thing, not because of potential price movement, but because we didn't want to delay the sale of our house while we looked for something. I think that trying to predict the housing market is a dangerous game. If this is your forever home, then price rises and falls only become relevant when you sell, which hopefully won't be for years by which time prices will probably have risen anyway.

I agree that predicting the market is difficult. We sold and went into rented at the start of 2008 just before house prices started to drop. It was simply the right time (needed to move areas by a certain date for children's schools) and although it was supposed to be temporary, we stayed in rented for about 2 years. It worked for us but that was just luck.

Personally I don't think prices will be too badly affected and if your next purchase is your forever house, the financials are arguably less important.

I bought in an unfashionable bit of the outskirts of London in 2007 and some people pointed out that I'd bought at the top of the market. In reality the market crash caused a slight dip for maybe 6 months and then prices steadily climbed again. It's now worth about 30% more than I paid for it.

London may crash, but there's so many people waiting to be able to buy that I think demand and prices will stay high. Elsewhere you might get lucky, but it's a bit of a risk.

I think an interest rate cut is likely next week which may help to fuel a price increase rather than a reduction.