Is Now The Right Time To Buy A House?
So a few weeks ago the announcement came about the break on stamp duty. For a lot of people already going through the process of buying a house, this is a great win. We bought just as lockdown started and as I’m not a first-time buyer we paid stamp duty on the whole property. Thankfully it was a few months ago, and not a few weeks ago. Otherwise, I’d have been a bit gutted. But I thought I’d talk about whether now is the right time to buy a house.
The stamp duty holiday is in place until March 2021, and you need to have completed by then. So if you’re going to start thinking about buying you’ll want to act quick as it can take months to go through. Ours was about 3.5 months and that was chain free. I know people who have waited 6/7 months for it to go all go through.
Is now the right time to buy a house?
If you’ve already got your deposit saved (or close to saved) and you were considering buying in the next year then now could well by the right time to buy a house. This is especially true if you currently own and were looking to move as you wouldn’t get any stamp duty relief like first-time buyers. Not having to pay stamp duty could save you anywhere from £5,000 to £10,000 on an average priced house. For example, you’d have paid about £7,250 on an average priced property at £350,000.
The biggest question to consider whether it’s the right time to buy a house is around your working situation. If you’re furloughed at the moment chances are you won’t get a mortgage. With over one million people furloughed, redundancy may be on the cards. And this means that buying a house may not be on the cards.
And with a looming recession due to happen you’ve got to think about your security to ensure you can continue to pay your mortgage payments. Only you know if this is right for you.
Things to consider if you are looking to buy now
If you’re a first-time buyer then you need to be prepared to pay a slightly larger deposit than you would have. A lot of lenders have gotten rid of their 90% mortgages due to the unstable market conditions. So you may need to consider additional savings in order to secure your mortgage. While this might seem annoying to begin with it will help you secure a better interest rate. And it will mean you’re borrowing less so you’ll be paying less back.
That isn’t to say some lenders will bring back 90% mortgages. But the larger your deposit is the better position you’ll be in going forward.
Due to the market condition, you’ll want to make sure your finances look as good as they can. If you have any loans/ small amounts of credit it may be worth seeing if you can clear them down beforehand. You can check out your credit score for free through Clearscore to see if there’s anything you can do to improve your position.
Are you considering if now is the right time to buy a house?
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17 responses to “Is Now The Right Time To Buy A House?”
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Rhian Westbury
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This is a very inforamtive post. I have seen quite a few houses go up for sale around where I live and the prices seem to have dropped.
I think the stamp duty saving will be a big pull for a lot of people.
Let’s hope the news of the recession today doesn’t impact any of us too negatively x
Yeah I think the stamp duty thing is a great pull for people who aren’t first time buyers x
We have been considering it but want to ensure we are in a better financial position – we’ve got the deposit but not sure we’d actually get the mortgage.
I do feel that banks will be tighter handing out mortgages now which is such a shame, but you may also get a great deal if you do get one x
Such a great post, I do think it is a buyers market at the moment so if you are looking to buy you need to make sure all the other areas such as deposts are in place
It is such a tough time and personally why not buy now at least it saves on paying over priced rent x
We wouldn’t have a clue as we actually rent but if you feel it’s the right time then definitely go for it !
It’s a very tough time at the moment. But if you’re financially secure then it may be a good place to buy – I reckon there’ll be some bargains to be had.
Yeah I think it’s so important to think about financially stability x
We have been wanting to move for quite a while now, but sadly as my husband lost his job during lockdown its not worked out for us which is disappointing
We are stll trying to sell our old house, as we have already moved etc, but its taking a while, i think a few people are also playing the prices game with all the news at the moment, they think the house prices are going down, some are snapping up quickly though and accepting anything, its a crazy timeat the moment.
Yeah I think some people are really trying to hold out and get a good deal. I’m very much in the thought of if it’s the right house you’ll be prepared to put in an office regardless x
Honestly, I cannot wait until I am in the position to buy a home. I haven’t looked into the process as of yet, but my other half has the whole thing planned out. Saving for a deposit woth 2 kids isn’t as easy as we were hoping unfortunately.
We’re currently saving to buy a new house. We’re outgrowing ours and we want to make sure we have a decent amount behind us when we move.
We had a house go up for sale on our road a few weeks ago and it sold instantly. To be honest I thought it would be up for sake for a while
I think quite a few people doing second/ third moves are cashing in on the stamp duty reduction x