Would you buy or rent now?

[StillIRise87]

Hi, We are currently selling our house in London and are looking to buy outside of London, possibly Bristol or Chepstow where it seems prices are still rising! We cant decide whether to buy now to avoid getting priced out or wait in rented for six months to see if prices fall like they did in 2008. We are worried this is the peak of the market . I know you don't have crystal balls but what would you do? We do need to get in the correct catchment for primary school in the next twelve months.

No advice, sorry, but we are in the same position so interested to see what people think.

We sold in London last year and moved to Warwickshire. We're renting in the catchment area for my top school pick and then will look to buy in 2020 once all the brexit madness hopefully has died down (and prices deflate little)

I’ve no idea about the Bristol market, but if it’s a long-term home you’re after I’d buy now/when you find something suitable rather than try to predict the market.

Chepstow is a bit of an odd one at the moment because of the bridge tolls going. It's probably the only place in the country where prices will continue to rise for a while as people move over the border without having to pay £6 every day to do so.

Depends if it's a long term or stop-gap home you're looking for. We paid 10% over the estate agent's valuation for our home - and he said he was stretching it. It was the property and location we wanted - and has been our home for over 22 years - so the extra we paid has been well and truly forgotten - or at least, paid for in memories.

If it’s a long term home then in your shoes I’d look to buy in the right catchment. If the right house at the right price doesn’t come up then I’d be prepared to rent in that catchment.

Buy.

If prices crash it’ll be harder to get a mortgage and rent is dead money anyway.

Money is safer in property , long term it always goes up ,
short term fluctuations make people jittery , saying that the market is still rising in many places and you might find it harder to get a mortgage

I've just taken out a year rental contract with a break clause based on seeing what happens with Brexit and locally seeing a stagnant market with a steady stream of reductions and still no sales. Even the rentals aren't shifting, which in outer London used to be unheard of. Ignore everything but your gut and your own circumstances. Weighing it up for us, prices are falling in greater amounts than we're going to spend in rent.

Bristol prices rose 1.6% between July 2017 and July 2018, the lowest rise since the stagnation of 2010. The market has hardly been glittering since either. +1.6% when inflation is +2.7% is a real term drop so I wouldn't worry about the market moving away from you at the moment, that reflects the UK average. With London on the slide dragging the average down, it makes Bristol look weaker than many other areas a good distance from London.

There is no right answer to this one with any certainty attached & the options to consider depend largely on how much filthy cash you take out of London. It would have been a brilliant move a couple of years ago, but still not a bad one now. London is increasingly not a place you'd want to live and looks hugely overvalued.

Personally I would buy now as if you rent for 12 months that will be dead money anyway. No one can predict what will happen, but longer term your money is safer in bricks and mortar.

I bought a place about seven years ago and was advised by quite a few people before exchange that it was a bad time to buy, the property market had peaked, interest rates were bound to increase etc. I'm so glad I didn't listen to any of them and went ahead with the purchase. The place I bought is now worth about £100K more than what I bought it for and if I hadn't purchased it then, I'd be completely priced out of the area. My advice is to always, always buy if you possibly can.