Is now a good time to buy a house?

No

They're wrong

Only you can decide that.

Most wages in this country will not rise much in the future... cheap, well qualified labour in a global market guarantees that. In previous years inflation would slowly eat away at big mortgages and make them feel much smaller after a while. That was when the property ladder worked.

Now a very expensive house today will still be an expensive house in ten years' time. So buy the house you want to stay in for a *long* time if you buy anything. And make sure you can afford another 2% in interest rates, just in case.

Andrew McP

Well they're just as likely to be correct as those who've been predicting a fall for years.

That's up to you to decide. As long as you can shelter a small increase in interest rates I believe it is still an excellent investment. I cannot see interest rates going up more than 0.25% this year maxing out at about 5% next year.

Err they *were* predicting a fall

This is the first I've heard of their change of tune.

Daytona

Can you afford to buy a house?

Of limited use, because it's about as biased and inaccurate as some estate agents imo.

Daytona

Read the following account of newspapers predictions over the years -

I think most people, both experts and not, are surprised at how long this boom has gone on.

See the many previous comments/threads

Daytona

I thought that

Yes, easily. But I'm not sure that I want to right now. You should see what horrid houses are sold for one hundred thousand or so where I live.

I mean a lot more popular than it used to be. I think hpc.co.uk is still busier because it has more momentum and lots of folk who don't worry so much about censorship or who owns it.

Andrew McP

Well if you already knew that...

There's a lot of commentary but too much froth: I try to only listen to those who refer to the fundamentals.

I can easily see a long, relatively stagnant market. But it needs something more fundamental to trigger a big fall.

The effects of Peak Oil, maybe? When this happens, I would expect inner city and rural locations to benefit from the relative undesirability of suburbs with poor public transport links and lack of a walkable community.

I'm seriously considering buying right now, despite my personal beliefs about the short-to-mid-term future of the housing market, purely because of some very specific personal circumstances. Hopefully I won't lose /too/ much.

Best Regards, Alex.

"Alex Butcher" wrote

ID:0x5010dbff

What's that date again? "6.6.6" ?? Oh dear...