Anyone else waiting to buy?

[Freetodowhatiwant]

As in title, anyone else waiting to buy and wondering when might be the right time? I am aware it is a funny time to be buying, at the start of a potential slow down/price correction/outright crash (depending who you talk to) and also when interest rates are high BUT some of us still 'have to' buy or think about buying.

My position is I have been renting for a couple of years and can only now move forward due to having sold a property. I have bought and sold several before over the years so have a fair bit of experience but at the moment it's all so variable.

Personally I am thinking it is probably best to wait a few months and see what the market does but can't help looking now. There seems to be a slight slow down in my area - popular seaside city in the South - but prices are still way above what they were when I was browsing just pre-pandemic in January/February 2020. As an example, the sort of house I want to buy was around £550k at that time and is now hitting the £650-700k mark. I THINK people will soon realise that the 700k mark is not going to happen but we will see. I would like to get one around the 600k mark but that might be too much of a fall in price for some to sell at,

Here are my thoughts about the pros and cons of buying soonish/in the next few months:

Cons:

High interest rates
Might be harder to get a mortgage
Prices still haven't yet gone down as much as they might do
As above it would be annoying to buy and then watch prices sink (although I HAVE done this before in 2007 in London and of course values eventually went up a lot)
There might not be a lot on the market as people stay put
Having to rent has been expensive - but of course interest rates now mean the mortgage will be more expensive than renting whether just a few months ago the mortgage would have been cheaper

Pros:

A downturn might help get a bargain
Hopefully someone will realise that it's an ideal time to size up and therefore vacate a property I would like
Might be an ideal time to get a tracker mortgage so don't get suck on a high rate
I will stop paying rent to pay of someone else's mortgage
I really want to be in our own home, one we own, again

Just me... or anyone else waiting with bated breath to see what move they make next and when?

I plunged in. Decided it might be better to buy with less competition around as so many are sitting back and waiting to see. I may well be proved wrong. But, also, I just want to get on with my life with my small family.

I have also been looking as my property has sold. But have now chosen to move to a rental for 6 months and see how the land lies after that.

If something I liked popped up I would go for it. But everything still seems a little inflated around here.

With the inflated prices (so I would have to buy more of a doer upper) coupled With the increase in interest rates (les responsible income to do repairs/ renovations) I just don't seem to be getting very much for my money 😫

Waiting here to upsize. The market was mad and I didn't want to overpay for some overpriced shite in what has never traditionally been an offers over place. Offers over and bidding wars stopped already prices slowly coming down. All I wanted was a calmer market with more time to make a decision. I'm throwing in the towel until spring 2024 as DD will be starting secondary.

@Sheerdetermination when you say you plunged in does that mean you already bought? I can absolutely see the reasoning in that. As long as you/we can afford the mortgage repayments the value of the house will eventually go up. And if you're staying there for the long term it makes total sense to just go ahead and buy.

I agree about things still being overinflated @Cake4. It is the same here. Estate agents I have spoken to seem to think it's not but how can prices still be almost a third higher than what they were 2 years ago? That is still a massive rise.

If things go down @Worriedddd and yes they do seem to be slowing down a bit already I think it's a great time to upsize. I have a child starting secondary this coming September '23 and that's a consideration for me too as the walk to school would be better from the new area we want to move to.

I am going to talk to my mortgage advisor today and then when I have everything in order might pop a few leaflets into the area I am targeting. Explain that I am a parent of two trying to move rather than a developer and see if it comes back with any results.

I’m sitting on my hands until the Fed signal that US interest rates have peaked in this cycle. That might be next Spring or perhaps a bit later. I can’t see anything but a drift down in prices next year and the end of over value bidding.

Yep I’m waiting to buy in London. Prices are dropping nicely, and so I’m waiting to see where we are in Spring.

We are waiting to sell and upsize in spring

We sold our house but ended up in rental when we were gazumped on the property we were buying.

We have moved our equity into the highest interest accounts we can find to cover rent and have decided to wait until next year before we start looking again.

Downside is feeling unsettled but I like the feeling of freedom to buy when/where we want.

There is a lot of money waiting on the sidelines for buying opportunities.

Whether or not it makes sense to continue ent, I think is best decided on other factors, such as

quality of rental and rental yeild
what return you can get on the cash.
debt to income ratios of average buyer in your area. If most sales are cash, what is likely to change?

would you be selling now or waiting until house prices to fall to sell? Theoretically i know it shouldn't matter as what you are buying would also go down in value, but i wonder how this works in practice.

@socialmedia23 we are waiting to sell. We want to port our mortgage and moving in to rental would cost more than double our mortgage.

Yes, sold my flat 1.5 months ago, my new flat fell through and i have been staying on ex hubby's couch waiting to find somewhere new. Prices def seemed to have stalled and hoping they will come down. but its just such a gamble and my nerves are shot.

@ChocolatSouris we’re in a similar situation. We sold in spring and have now been in our rental 6 months and will start looking again properly in spring. I like the freedom and just the bandwidth to relax and not think/feel pressured into buying a horribly overpriced house.
Prices where I’m looking have dropped roughly 50-100k. Still pricey but marginally less over inflated.
Slightly worries that a spring rush next year may negate any reductions now so am still keeping half an eye on the market incase a good find comes up.

same here. in London too so probably wouldn't even get a rental

I think if there is a Spring rush next year, it will mean the economy is in better shape than expected. Then the likelihood is for higher rates not lower, so something we need to be aware of.

By plunged in, I mean I’ve had an offer accepted and am in the process of buying it.

Reviving the thread to update that I am STILL waiting to buy. I have put in a couple of offers but they have been refused so far. Every house in my area is coming down around 50k (I am looking around the 700k mark) and I think they will fall further so I only really want to pay £600k. If it was pre-Truss budget and interest rate rises i wouldn’t mind borrowing more but the fact is at these Interest rates it makes the monthly repayments hideous. Very few new properties are coming on the market in the bracket I am looking at and as I said I feel they are still over valuing them.

anyone else frustrated by the lack of stock coming on? I was hoping there would be more of a flurry after Christmas.

We had an offer accepted in November - we’d just started looking and found the most gorgeous house so went for it. Now waiting for the sellers to find their onward purchase and constantly panicking that they’ll pull out.

Have just redone our mortgage offer at a better rate - we got the original one post mini budget and they’ve come down a bit now - which has also reset the clock a bit as the new offer has a new 6-month validity period.

We are TTC and desperate to move out of our crappy rented house, so are going for it even if it’s not the best time.

Should’ve said, still happy with the offer we had accepted even if prices are coming down. This house is beautifully done up - in ways we like - and much nicer than anything else we can afford. Survey was so good it didn’t worry us at all and we’re FTBs!

We don’t want to play games trying to renegotiate and risk losing it.

@CityKity Sorry late back to this thread, I think sitting it out is very wise and I really like the freedom we have right now.

In reply to op, our update is that we thought a lot about this over Christmas and are not even sure we want to buy in the UK again. We are looking at properties in Europe now.

@ChocolatSouris interesting, we also had a stint of looking at properties in Europe (Amsterdam), as also aren’t totally sure about our longevity in the UK.

Now we’re in 2023 I am looking a little more actively but also not seeing a flurry of stock yet. Slightly less relaxed than last year as I’m now pregnant so fell the need to be somewhat settled soon. Like you @planefullofotters I don’t want to be in this current flat with a baby at all!

Yes, we were supposed to exchange at the end of November and the bastards pulled out. We are renting, having sold in July last year. Hoping for prices to drop, but not many properties coming up at present.

I am between properties (sold mine last year) and was hoping things would pick up after Christmas but where I am looking it hasn't yet. Really fed up with not being able to find anywhere.

@CityKity thats funny about Amsterdam. I’m married to a Dutchie! We are looking at Maastricht as it’s closer to in-laws and France, as we would like a house there.

And massive congrats on your pregnancy

Are those houses selling when listed or are they lingering on the market for a while before being reduced?