Should I move now or after Brexit?

[Nevermindhey]

My plan was to move next summer and start looking in the spring. Now with all the doomed forecasts about the housing market post-brexit I don’t know what to do.

In my area the housing market seems buoyant. There are four sold signs in the surrounding streets and nothing sticking so I think I would sell quickly.

I am struggling with lack of space where I am so I don’t want to get stuck here if house prices plummet and the market takes several years to stabilise.

What do you think?!

I think it really depends how long you're planning on staying in your new house and the differences in price? There seems to be a lot of fear around selling and buying right now, but to be fair we've not given that much thought. We need more space so are selling and buying a bigger property we don't plan on leaving. If the market crashes it won't make much difference to us that way, I think if people are buying now that's really the attitude to have!

If houses in your area are selling, I would put my house on the market to get one of those buyers as soon as possible before they disappear. The global economy is not looking healthy, so I don't think you can blame any downturn on Brexit, since it's global.

If you are planning to stay in your next house long term, can afford it without a crazy stretch, and can get a non-discounted price for yours, it’s probably better to do it now while you can. Brexit is a totally unknown quantity, but historically prices recover...eventually...

If you wait until aftewards you may find a lack of supply of houses and that you can no longer ask the same price for yours. You could grab a bargain, but equally likely there’ll be very little to buy.

If you are going to do it, do it quick though!

Analytical are you serious? Of course Brexit is causing a downturn while people ‘batten down the hatches’. Goodness only knows what’ll happen if and when the economy is smashed against the wall of a no deal. Honestly.

I've bought a house that I can live in for at least the next 5-10 years so I can ride out any Brexit issues. But honestly no one knows whats going to happen come March! There is a lot of scaremongering, just ensure that if they are correct you have a place you can happily live in for x amount of years.

@Newboot China and the Eurozone are slowing at a much faster pace than the UK, and emerging markets have started crashing. None of that is happening because of Brexit.

If you can sell easily then sell now

I'd look to lock in a low interest rate on a new mortgage sooner rather than later - if you are short of space then having more will have a big impact for the better. Why hang around? If you plan to stay put in a new place for more than a couple of years then chances are you won't get caught in negative equity.

Let me guess Analytical, you voted leave?

It’s disingenuous to deny the housing market in the UK isn’t being effected by the biggest political unheaval for a century. People are staying put in their homes and not selling/buying investors are offloading investment properties, these are direct consequences of uncertainties. If there’s no deal and consequently hundreds of thousands of job losses, a huge spike in the cost of living making many people’s mortgage repayments unaffordable, will this also be only due to a global slowdown? If feels like climate change denial or flat earth syndrome around here sometimes...

*for a generation (not century)

@NewBoot Brexit is not the cause of the global economic downturn, just like Brexit is not the cause of global warming.

Brexit is part of the cause... but will definitely be used as the scapegoat

The global economy is fine. Political situation is dire though.
The UK is facing catastrophe.
We bought last year, locked a good rate for 10 years.
If you plan to stay in your house for a long time, then buy now.
No one has any idea what will be happening next March.

@Alexalee Are you saying Brexit is part of the cause of the property market downturn in Shanghai?

So if there is a global downturn it was even more monumentally twatty to add - completely unnecessarily - to what is already a shit situation, and make it even worse, by Brexit.

Analytical you know very well I’m referring to Brexit effecting the UK economy.

And it’s called an analogy: saying the UK housing market isn’t being affected by a looming Brexit, but is only due to a global downturn is very similar to saying that global warming isn’t caused by emissions, it’s just a new phase of the earth’s climate over which we have no control.

Global economic factors come in to play but the enormous local factor just can’t be ignored

We are taking the leap now, and have a buyer fingers crossed. If we get stuck in a house we don't want it to be this one, that was our thinking. If the sale falls through and we can't get another one above X price, we'll stay.

@ShovingLeopard Property prices the world over are falling from Canada to Hong Kong. Whatever happens with Brexit is not going to affect the course of the global downturn, so it's futile to try to blame the world's economic problems on Brexit.

If you are buying and selling in the same area, it shouldn't matter as all prices will drop.

I have just bought, and if prices drop then I will have a difficult situation. However, I had to move, I didn't want to sit back and wait for something that might never happen.

I have a 5 year fix on the mortgage. That way I know what I'm paying, even though it's more expensive.

@NewBoot Virtually the whole world is experiencing worse economic problems than the UK. The UK is doing better than most places, so it's pointless trying to make it all about Brexit. The UK housing market is not declining nearly as much as other countries have been.

Analytical I see you only apply your analysis very selectively to support your own agenda. There are plenty of worldwide property markets which are rocketing, due to - surprise! - local factors. Deny the affects of Brexit all you like but it won’t make it true.

@NewBoot Falls in property prices in New York, Sydney, Vancouver, Hong Kong etc etc are bigger than in the UK. Those property markets are not falling because of Brexit. Asset prices are falling everywhere because Quantitative Easing is being stopped and global interest rates are going up.

Analytical Brexit hasn’t happened yet. We’ve got a few months to make hay or batten down the hatches. After March all bets are off.

Yep, other some countries are in worse economic shape now, have been in the past, will be in the future. I just don’t get the point you are trying to make? The OP is asking about her very particular, local to the UK, property purchase. Geopolitics won’t be affecting UK residents decision making right now as much a looming Brexit. And Brexit will be affecting them directly much more than what’s going on in Shanghai, when manufacturers, banks etc. all up-sticks taking their jobs and investment with them, if (god forbid) there is no or a poor deal.

@NewBoot The biggest determinant of property prices is the availability of debt. The Bank of England recently brought in new mortgage rules to stop people borrowing excessive amounts, plus it has been raising interest rates and stopping QE, just like in other countries. Prices are falling because of this, and trying to blame it on Brexit is silly, since it is happening globally.

Analyticalchick riiiiiiiight....

Either you are on a massive piss take, or you really need to change your username