Comments on: Is 2008 a good time to buy a house?

By: Not best time to buy

Not best time to buy — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:03:45 +0000

not best time to buy wait till june next year best time to buy

By: peter harrison

peter harrison — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:45:03 +0000

It is nice to read a positive approach to the current market conditions.
In a word “YES” it is a good time to buy, we are seeing property sell for 20 – 30% below what they were last year and we all know from past events that they will be back to normal in the next year or so.

Fortune favours the brave, and I think anyone who invests in the market in this current climate will not go far wrong.

source – Peterborough estate agent – Grays

By: Max

Max — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:10:33 +0000

Well let me give you my thoughts as an experienced property investor for the last 10 years.

Bottom line: People will always need housing!

Its simple case of supply and demand! At the moment, there is a lot of demand but poor supply – both the supply of credit, and thus the supply of housing stock – partly caused by the lack of credit (ie people cant sell, because they cant get the finance to move elsewhere!).

So, once the credit flow restores itself, which it will – you will see the transactions between buyer and seller increase. The recent falls are the symptoms of the dired up demand caused by lack of finance. So, prices naturally would fall, as this demand falls.

Also, UK is an island – there is nowhere left to build!!.. and there is an increasing population! Hence the demand, whilst halted due to lack of finance, is very much there!! And the govt has a massive shortage in offering housing to that ever increasing population!

So.. my advice? Sit it out.

Once the liquidity returns to the market, and prices have now dropped to what is arguably the ‘right’ levels (ie 2005-06 prices), with demand remaining high (and likely to increase with more single person households!), the demand-supply equilibrium will re-align, and stabilise, with a most likely increase in prices – albeit at a more moderate pace then recent years!

Otherwise… retire to Brazil… and visit me on the beach!

Max

By: claire

claire — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:12:03 +0000

I am also purchasing a house. I have 20k deposit but my parents have advised that i should save at least 30k.

By: Helen

Helen — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:02:44 +0000

I am thinking of buying a house, does anybody have advise on when to buy one and what the best deposit is???

By: To Buy or Rent - Which is Better? | Finance Blog

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[...] Is it good time to buy a house? [...]

By: ralp

ralp — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:34:05 +0000

as a first time buyer, is it worth to have a mortgage this time with a 6.67% interest rate for five years (ending 2013) from abbey, some are saying that houses are falling down but we don’t see the effect of that in having a mortgage this time and what if this economy crisis will be resolve within 3 years does it mean that interest rate will come down?, thanks

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:00:25 +0000

Prices will not drop significantly until employment starts to fall like it did in Japan and the UK in around 1990. Or, if lenders stop lending in the long term. In a normal world, as it becomes more and more difficult to buy, lenders will come up with more and more products to offset the difficulty of affording property. As that happens, prices will continue to climb. Making a mortgage term longer is a good example of a new product that can be extended to accommodate for the needs of an inflating property market.

Additionally, there is also the average household income to mortgage cost ratio rather than against house price to consider. This is not nearly as dramatic as the ration of income vs prices because mortgage costs are so much more affordable these days as interest rates are lower and the available mortgage terms are longer.

Discuss…