Prioritise lower mortgage or better house?

[HotChoc10]

My partner and I are 26 and 27, looking to buy our first home. We are lucky to have a very healthy deposit (because of inheritances on both sides), and could afford a flat now with a small or no mortgage. This would be my instinct - we currently rent a one bedroom flat and I am very happy with the amount of space we have.

He thinks we should borrow what we can to get the best possible house we can afford so we won't have to move if we have kids in the future because we'll already have space for them and a garden, and we would have plenty of time to pay it back. I'm open to this in theory but I don't know what the more sensible course of action is.

What would you prioritise - not having as much mortgage debt, or having a better house?

House.

Ideally you want to minimise the number of moves - saves on stamp duty and legals. Stamp duty is huge at the moment.

House.. was in a similar position to you and decided on long term gain. Given the horrendous chain we are now stuck in, I certainly wouldn't want to move again without a good ten year or so period to recover/forget! I guess that's one thing to bear in mind, as FTB also we found many houses were in chains with us at the bottom which is incredibly frustrating- on the flip of that many of my friends have found chain free flats, but will need to move again sooner than us. Good luck!