The housing market situation?

with all the new developments of house prices falling,
when is the best time to buy a new house?

and how long will they keep on falling?
the prices that is

In my opinion I'd wait as I believe that the prices are still going to fall for a couple of years at least and with the banks in sticky situations, its not that easy to secure credit.

However, as with most things this isn't definitive and anything can happen, even though it is highly unlikely anything is going to improve within the economy for a couple of years at least.

House prices have dropped by 20% in the last year according to halifax. I would say to wait at least another year until the markets stabalise.

House prices will continue to fall until all the sucker speculators with their buy to let mortgages are cleared out. I may be wrong but in order for that to happen rental values have to drop to a level where it is cheaper to rent than to buy, a scary thought!

I was at an auction last week and the place was full of the 'changing rooms massive'. Sell thru's were around 95% as opposed to around 40%-50% a month ago. Its madness!

If sterling gets hammered we may see a rush back into assets which would turn the market on its head.

I would say that it really depends on whether you need somewhere to live or whether you are more interested in trying to make some money.

If you are buying for somewhere to live and you intend to stay there for at least 7-10 years then buy now especially if you are paying rent.

If the house that you want to buy drops by £5000 in the next 12 months but you pay £6000 in rental then it would be more prudent to buy the house now.

Thats my advice

But I am no expert

i think until banks give morgages at a decent rate to FTB's houses will continue to fall

madnlooney said:

i think until banks give morgages at a decent rate to FTB's houses will continue to fall

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I don't think it has much to do with the rates being offered to first time buyers.
But rather more to do with the fact that the 100% mortgage no longer exists.
Bottom line is first time buyers will need to have a deposit of at least 15% of property value.
The average first time buyer is going to struggle to raise £15k for a deposit on a £100k property. That's assuming that the buyer has a snow white credit rating and is considered by the banks to be an eligible applicant for a mortgage in the first place.

Renting will be the only option for lots of people .. rents will go up... property prices will continue to fall until the banks stop shitting themselves.

langland said:

If you are buying for somewhere to live and you intend to stay there for at least 7-10 years then buy now especially if you are paying rent.

If the house that you want to buy drops by £5000 in the next 12 months but you pay £6000 in rental then it would be more prudent to buy the house now.

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Thats assuming that the housing market will sort itself out within a year, what if you lose 10k off the house? Your in negative equity straight away. It is cheaper at present to rent than to have a mortgage, is it better to wait a year and pay £6000 in rent, than be left with a white elephant.

v14 said:

I don't think it has much to do with the rates being offered to first time buyers.
But rather more to do with the fact that the 100% mortgage no longer exists.
Bottom line is first time buyers will need to have a deposit of at least 15% of property value.
The average first time buyer is going to struggle to raise £15k for a deposit on a £100k property. That's assuming that the buyer has a snow white credit rating and is considered by the banks to be an eligible applicant for a mortgage in the first place.

Renting will be the only option for lots of people .. rents will go up... property prices will continue to fall until the banks stop shitting themselves.

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FTBs have no chance at the moment, and that is what is crippling the housing market. I went for a mortgage about 4 months back, for a brand new house. My partner and I, make about 40k between us a year. We wanted a mortgage for £100k. Max that they would give us was £70k, and we would need to raise the rest. That's a difference of 30k, who the hell has 30k lying around.

If you are in a position to buy though, there are some amazing bargains out there. We viewed a converted cottage at the weekend that was almost sold at christmas for £375K, but the buyer lost their job, and the seller is that desperate to sell it's now dropped to £249K. Was valued at £400K a year ago. We're doing everything we can to get it, cos we would never be able to get a house like that ever again!

bbjohhny said:

If you are in a position to buy though, there are some amazing bargains out there. We viewed a converted cottage at the weekend that was almost sold at christmas for £375K, but the buyer lost their job, and the seller is that desperate to sell it's now dropped to £249K. Was valued at £400K a year ago. We're doing everything we can to get it, cos we would never be able to get a house like that ever again!

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Sounds nice, but 400k was the inflated house price at the time of market boom. Good luck in getting it, but dont pay over the odds.

house prices are still massively over inflated - i left uni in 1997 and bought a ground floor victorian reposession for £14,000. i sold it in 2004 for £76,000. Bearing in mind it was a shell and i spent most of those years fixing something or putting something new in - but we were quite lucky. at the time we bought it, similar flats on the street were going for between £23,000 and £25,000 and that seemed about reasonable for what you were getting for your money.

i think the flats priced peaked at about £85,000 a couple of years ago but now they're still at around the £70,000 mark.

but it goes to show - even THAT price is MASSIVLEY over what they were worth less than 10 years ago. house prices are relative. Personally, i've always been 1 to advocate 'i rather be paying money towards my own place than renting' but in these time - there's some good rental properties out there with bargains to be haggled with! Wait, atleast year before you look at the market.

It would be great to have a crystal ball and know when the market will bottom out.
My guess would be at least another year yet.

A house, like anything else, is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it at a given time.
The time will come when people have to buy again and the whole market will start again, though I don't think prices will rocket like last time as banks will be more cautious about lending money as before, as least I hope they will!

Curly