Is anyone else putting off moving because of uncertainty about the housing market?

[BoogleMcGroogle]

Just that really. We have buyers for our house ( which we still love) and have found a house we love more. But it's a huge mortgage increase ( x3 our current loan) and I've got a concern prices are going to tank. So we've bailed for now and decided to stay in our little house for now. Our jobs are reasonably secure ( DH does work a lot with EU clients though) but I'm worried about interest rates and/ or the cost of living going up. I do worry we are being too cautious ( and feel sad about losing my honey-brick Victorian villa).

Anyone else playing it safe for the time being? Anyone taking a punt and upsizing? Are we wimps?

x3 your loan is a big increase in outgoings and mortgage rates will certainly rise over the next few years. That would be my main worry, not necessarily falling prices (assuming youre planning on staying in the house long term).

I feel the same. Ours is going up by less but I have cold feet and thinking of pulling out...

There's always a lot of factors to consider when deciding to move home, and each situation will be different based on personal circumstances.

However, mortgage rates are low, very good fixed rates are available meaning whatever happens to rates you know what your payment will be for the length of the fixed rate period.

The price of your home is largely irrelevant unless you need to sell it, therefore if prices do tank it matters little if you aren't moving.

It really comes down to how much extra it is going to cost you, how secure you feel your jobs are in the medium to long term, and how long you feel you are likely to stay in the next house you buy.

'The price of your home is largely irrelevant unless you need to sell it, therefore if prices do tank it matters little if you aren't moving. '

Not strictly true - when you get to the end of your deal and want to remortgage a fall can effect your ltv value and may leave you with no option but the banks svr

I think it depends on your attitude to risk. Some people are totally comfortable carrying loads of debt for the sake of a lifestyle - they positively enjoy it and, judging by their lives, if you are built htat way, this is a way to live very, very well! I am much more risk-averse and scared, though, so what they enjoy I would find anxiety-inducing and stressful, to the point that I think I would actually have MH issues trying to do it.

We were in a similar boat to you, and made a similar decision. I live in a very unMumsnetty house - lower middle class neighbourhood, small 3 bed. We could have borrowed three times the value of our current house and got a dream home in the nicest postcode in the city of the kind that estate agents always describe as "enviable". But we'd have had little disposable income and we would have been absolutely locked into jobs. (At the moment I have quite a lot of freedom in terms of my work, and would have had to give this up). So we decided to spend a fraction of that extending the house to make it the perfect space for us to live in long term (not perfect for other families, or desirable, but "right for us"). When it's done we will have space or all the things we truly value - big kitchen, huge library, hifi and music, piano, writing room etc. And we'll still have enough left over to do the other things we love doing - foreign travel, nice meals out, buying people great presents, and saving for retirement so we don't have to work forever etc. No-one is going to look at our house and think it's Downton Abbey, but I'm not sure that being enviable makes you all that happy, really.

No, still moving. Lived through two crashes and it always recovers - and land is land. If your home makes you happy that's the main thing. Mine no longer does - so I am moving on.

No point in taking stupid risks of course so you can't borrow more than you can afford and bet on a rise but otherwise I am not worried.

Oh and location is key. If you want nicer streets and better schools with nicer friends for your kids and less traffic, pollution or noise then it's about quality of life.

I held off moving for far too long with another property - waste of my life in a place I no longer loved.

I'm still moving because I need better secondary schools locally and time is marching on.

Also need to be closer to family due to circumstances change. I'm living in the wrong place, I need to move. Everyone likes to feel they're getting ahead financially but I need a house that works better for me and my family, location wise and size wise.

We bought in July despite being fairly certain of a dip in prices. Worked out that the amount we paid off would equal the projected loss of value (mortgage is shorter than usual) so no negative equity unless it drops by more than 10%, bargained hard, and got a decent fixed rate deal on the mortgage.

It's not an ideal situation, but no disaster.