Would you buy in London right now?

[succulentleaf]

Considering Brexit, and that house prices are falling, is now a very bad time to buy in London? Everything seems to over priced at the moment, considering that value are dropping. Our friends have just accepted 8% under the asking price of their flat. 7% less than the amount they paid in 2016.

If I needed a place to live, probably yes. Real estate is a long term investment, so as with stocks, trying to time the market is generally a losing strategy.

We will be when we've finished our flat. We live in London so intend on buying in London. I guess the only reason we wouldn't sell and then buy is if we lose a lot of money but we don't expect to.

I should've said - we need a bigger home and Brexit isn't going to change that.

Yes, l have just bought a flat in London.

If you are selling and then buying whatever you drop to sell, will be reflected in the next property, if you are careful.

If you are a FTB, it is a good time with great fixed rates and a slow market, (which IMO will pick up after the Brexit/political chaos)

Do loads of in depth research in your area, know the value per sq ft and try and get the best deal you can.

Nope not as a ftb... no way a flat... unless the price was back to around the 2011 price

I’m trying to, but all the houses we are looking at are overvalued with sellers who won’t budge

Depends on where you are looking. I bought a 2bed in 2016 and the identical one next door just sold for 10% more, so they're not falling everywhere

I recently did, purchased for well under the asking price, decent mortgage due to my deposit and hopefully I’ll still be living here in 15-20 years time.

Yes if you are planning to stay long term. Probably not if you would need a high ltv mortgage and plan to move on after a few years.

We complete at the end of the month, so yes 😁

We needed more space and have lived in London all our lives (as have our DC). None of that's going to change, so there didn't seem to be much point in waiting.

Yes. I live in London now and am looking at moving from one bit of London to another.

Yep..we are currently selling our flat in London and buying a bit Edwardian house a few streets away.

We priced our flat very competitively and were able to get a good deal on the price of the house we are buying.

Yes. If I was planning on being here for a while. Less so if I was planning on moving in next couple of years.

Buy one and bargain hard with the vendor because banks are down valuing most property in London. They are not ready to give you mortgages for asking prices. I am going through it myself.

You won't lose at all. But don't sell your property to buy a new one. It's not the right time to sell properties in London. Hope that helps.

Yes. Houses selling fast round us.

Yes if you are planning to stay long term. Probably not if you would need a high ltv mortgage and plan to move on after a few years.

I agree with this. We have decided to stay put & extend as our planned move would have been short term. It also meant buying at the top of the market which I didn’t want to do.

I also believe prices will stagnate for a fair while, lending is a lot tighter now & I think it’s likely the country will see some tax increases in the future. The days of making 200k in a couple of yrs are gone.

I would defo not buy a new build 2 bed flat wout a garden.