First time buyers… do we buy now or wait and hope rates will come down?

[treesareyellow]

The whole situation is a mess.
Hardly anything on the market near us, understandable reading some of these posts as it’s clearly not a good time to sell

We are renting for £600, a 2 bed. HA on rent to buy scheme hence why so cheap. We want to buy a 3 bed. We earn jointly 60k so this should be reasonable in the north and merely a few years ago we’d have been able to comfortably afford this with repayments of circa 800 a month - except we were students then so obviously we couldn’t buy then. In current times with rates as they are we would be paying over 1100-1200 on a mortgage for a small 2 bed! We have just scraped by the affordability for it but it would be over 30% of our joint income and considering we want kids soon I think that would be really tight when on reduced earnings/maternity etc

Often see it suggested to buy a very small property. It’s completely impractical for us to buy smaller than a 3 bed (2 bed and box room) as it just shifts the issue, if we outgrow a tiny property then try to sell it in two or three years we may be in negative equity which we want to avoid as then we would be stuck. Anyway, all the starter properties around here are either occupied by people who now presumably can’t afford to move on or snapped up by landlords within days. Flats and apartments are not as common round here. We don’t want to pay another lot of legal fees and deal with the stress and hassle of moving either.

We know trying to time the market is a fools game but should we wait given the rent is fixed? It feels like such wasted money but I am scared of strapping ourselves into ££££ of mortgage debt with repayments being so terribly high, especially at the time we’re thinking of starting a family you don’t want to be an extra -600 a month down.

Thank you

My point is that your point is incorrect. It very much depends on when you buy. You bought at a fortunate time and benefitted from large rises as well as the work you did.
The housing ladder is broken unless you have high wage increases or parental gift/ inheritance. In addition, the market has turned and will be different going forwards. Someone buying now won't be able to make lots of money as you did even if they do up houses.

@rainingsnoring your missing my point entirely. Which is that people can and do buy houses, pay down mortgages, often move to bigger houses as times moves on. No the housing market isn’t the same as it was 20 or 10 years ago but buying a home is still possible for many people but i often just as it was years ago you have to be realistic about what you can afford. Constant moaning and doom mongering helps no one!!

I understood your point. I just don't agree with it. Older generations (in general) were able to buy affordable homes, younger people (in general) have not been able to unless they have access to the bank of mum and dad. It is a particularly bad time to be an average FTB at present. Not doom mongering, just looking at the facts and numbers when you make a decision which is what @treesareyellow is doing.

OP I think your major advantage is your current secure tenancy which means it is more advantageous of you to rent. For most people their rent is probably going to rise as much as their mortgage. The order I would do things is;

Save as much as possible for the next year or so. Then look at buying but take out a long fix, if rates are still volatile. Yes you take the risk they go down but you know you are fixing at a level you can afford for 5 years ish.

TTC depends on your age I think, if under 30 I would be tempted to wait and put energy into saving and building my career/increasing salary. I would also look at getting married before TTC as if you give up work this can bring it’s own set of problems.

It feels like such wasted money but I am scared of strapping ourselves into £££ of mortgage…”
But it isn’t wasted money, if the rent is the same or less than what your interest payments would be. That money just goes to the bank, never to be seen again! Without all the benefits of a landlord/agent who should fix/maintain things as part of their services