Should we postpone buying a house till Brexit is settled?

I really don't have much time for Estate Agents. We saw a bungalow on Zoopla today which we know had been listed a few months ago then was taken off. It has come back on with an asking price £10k higher than before. We looked on the estate agents own website and it was still on at the lower price When we rang to ask why, we were told the owner didn't have anywhere to go and so took it off the market. However she must have decided to put it back on and added an extra £10k to try her luck again no doubt. This buying a new house lark really is a jungle.

Marieeliz Have you considered taking your home off the market for a few weeks and putting it on with a different agent? Once a house has gone stale on Rightmove it is much harder to sell so you might be better off waiting and putting it on again.

I don't understand those who say it makes no difference if the market changes because you are selling one and buying another, it does. If you are downsizing/downpricing then selling at the top of the market means you will have more money to save. It is only if you intend to spend the same on the new home as you get for the old one that it makes no difference.

Gabriella I feel so sorry for you with your lack of credible argument or discussion. Your inability to say something without being rude. I think you need help.

GabriellaG

If its not your first purchase it makes little difference. If your new house loses value then so would your old one!

For a first time buyer taking out the max mortgage it might be worth waiting

Daisyboots Exactly!! Well said! Spot on!

I am so with Willow500 that I had begun to think this way before the page came up from the emails page! I thin, we, especially, need to carry on living as normally as we can through this horrible time and try not to let it spoil anything we would have done without it. Life is too short to keep agonising over these complications! If you want to live somewhere else and you can sell up and buy the next place you like, then do it! After all, whatever house prices do, one is just swapping one place for another. You must live your life and enjoy it. Too many people in my life have died before retirement or just as they retired. Please do what makes you happy!

Sell your house and buy another one now amd dont think about Brexit.
In 1988 where house prices were rising fast we bought and sold. Then there came the depression of the early 90s and our house lost a lot of value. Even when I sold it 11 years later it fetched what I had paid for it originally. But the house I had sold to buy this one had increased from £72K to £190K in 3 years so it was all only paper figures. Yes I had I not bought the house, invested the money and rented a property I may have been better off. But selling and buying were just figures on paper. Go ahead and see what's out there for sale. If property prices fall that will include the price of your current house as well so you are not losing out by selling and buying now.

so what would you advise the OP to do varian?

Unfortunately we can't just forget brexit, the nightmare that has threatened to blight our future for the last three years. If it can be prevented, then we may be eventually be able to forget it, but a great deal of damage has already been done.

You are either going to have to get on with it or wait a long time as although March 29th is B day it will be ages before anything becomes crystal clear. The housing market often hibernates this time of year, leave Brexit out of it and decide what you want to do and go for it.

I have had two viewings since August! Although other properties on my road sold quickly earlier in the year. Unfortunately, the part share bungalow I was after has now had an offer accepted.

My problem is do I keep my house up for sale and hope another bungalow shared ownership comes up. I would have to move into rented accommodation if I sold. As I have no family to move in with. You have to have a sale on your house before you can offer on a shared ownership property.

Nonnie
Bollocks. Scaremongering. How did we live before signing up? Were we worse off? No, don't bother answering. We'll be out and be all the better for it. Hurrah.

Grecian you will hear a lot more about it over the coming year if it goes ahead and it will affect all of us. I read this yesterday and it scared me:

1. An oft-repeated lie is no less a lie. I’m so tired of this inane “the majority of our trade is outside the EU” nonsense, I’m going to do a short thread about it. TLDR version: it’s bollocks. Feel free to share it.

2. The statistics quoted by people claiming that “the majority of UK trade is outside the EU” almost invariably make the mistake of confusing the EU countries as a market with the EU as a trading framework. Only by doing so, is such a claim sustainable.
3. In fact, the trade for which Brexit removes all basis, is not only trade with EU members, but all trade done with third parties through EU trade agreements - from Norway to South Korea. By exiting, the UK will simply no longer be a party to that entire legal framework.
4. That trade represents 57% of the UK’s exports and 66% of its imports (going by 2016 ONS figures). And that doesn’t even include preferential agreements in specific markets or special terms offered by or to the EU unilaterally, if which there are dozens.

5. If one included all trade facilitated by this complex European trade framework, all of it entirely dependent on our membership, we are talking about over three quarters of all international trade. I cannot explain what is at stake more plainly. END

Yes. Everything seems to get blamed on Brexit.

I’m sick to death of hearing about it.

If you are going to buy another house either smaller or larger you are buying and selling in the same market. So if you need to move get on with it and drive a hard bargain on the house you buy.
My only other comment is, house prices are very high at present they are unlikely to go up, they are already unaffordable.

Not sure any of us would notice a rise of 1.4% and of course that is only an average. Where we live good houses have been sold within days of going on the market, and for more than the market price, but it seems to be slowing down a bit now.

I think that these days people want to buy a perfect home and don't want to have to do any work at all. Homes seem to need to be totally up to date or so far behind current tastes (with a price to compensate) that it is worth a builder doing up. Builders will buy if the price is right but don't bother with the ones which only need a lesser amount of work done.

Prices haven't been rising much in my area Nonnie but even if they do, you can only sell a property if someone is prepared to pay it.

Sassenach the estate agents outside London are denying it because prices are still rising. See the land registry link above.

Ah Venus that's so sad, it does make you think that you shouldn't procrastinate but it does show that people are thinking about Brexit and waiting to see what happens.
I think it's the slump that people selling their houses are fearing Gabriella and the fact that the market has slowed right down. As you say, property was higher a few years ago but vendors still expect to get at least what they paid for their property and a bit more besides despite the flagging market. Estate agents we've spoken to all deny any problems at the moment but they would wouldn't they?

It is not true that house prices have dropped. Yes, they have in London but not everywhere else. Overall prices have risen by 1.2% which means that in some areas there has been a considerable increase. landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/ukhpi

When people say that they're 'not getting what they should' for their property, they are, presumably, comparing recent offers with a buoyant market some years ago. Markets are fluid and, like the sea, they will be rough or smooth according to the wind. Your house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. The true cost of building plus land is much much lower but expectations are high.
Why not compare your offers against house prices during the last slump, then you will see how much you have to be thankful for?

Look at it this way.If you have had a valuation that meets with your expectations and happy to let your property go at that price then sell. How quickly do you need to repurchase? if you have found another property you like and the price suits then go ahead and buy. Forget Brexit .

I wish the Governor f the Bank of England had kept his views to himself! Our house has been on the market since April and we have had only two viewings. Fortunately, the house we want to buy is similarly becalmed. As an organiser, I find the uncertainty hard to live with.

Since 2004 our population has grown much more rapidly than we’re used to. Consequently we have a housing shortage over ten years in the making.

These facts mean that the current drop in house prices is momentary and any future drop will be temporary.