Rent or buy when relocating

[Fli55Flo55]

We are moving town to be closer to family for support whilst I go back to university. We currently own our home but need to sell to pay off some debts. We would have some equity left for a deposit on a smaller house in our new town but with 3 kids we can’t afford the house size that we would need. Do we sell up and rent (clearing debts and saving the deposit for when something suitable comes up, adding to it over the next couple of years) or buy to stay on the property ladder even if it means living in a house that’s not really big enough for us?

I bought as mortgage is less than rent and would move again if and when I can afford it.

Have you looked at how much rent is in the new area vs a mortgage?

Can you pay off your debts in other ways without using up so much equity?

Are prices rising, falling or static in the new area?

I stayed on the property ladder as I knew that if I came off it, I would be unlikely to ever own again.

Can't you rent out your current house then go back to it afterwards.

Monthly rent would be less than the mortgage repayments and we don’t have any other way of clearing debts (my god we’ve tried!!) prices are pretty steady at the moment in both our current area and the new area.

We are moving kids school to move and don’t want to move them twice, once we’ve moved town we are staying put.