Is buying residential property now unwise?

[heyya99]

There is potential big shake up in contracting, probably not as big as everyone worries about, but certainly worth waiting 9 days to find out before tethering yourself to an eye watering London mortgage.

Autumn statement?

[SueEllen]

Autumn statement?

Yes

Also if you can afford the mortgage now and have a spare room you can still survive.

[BrilloPad]

The price can only go up.

[d000hg]

Is buying residential property now unwise?

Not if you need somewhere to live.

[MrWebDev]

This is something I've also been thinking about OP. I'm currently planning on trying to buy somewhere in London in the 2nd half of next year, however with all the potential changes coming up I'm not sure if it's going to be realistic any longer.

I obviously don't know your circumstance, but the way I look at it is like so. Realistically to buy something at least decent within a 20-30min commute into central London you'd be looking at £300K+. Now even if you've got a six figure deposit to put down repayments are probably still going to be in the region of £1400+ p/m, not a small amount. Before you even get to that point you've got to get a lender to give you the £££s, it's my understanding most lenders will give you around 4.5/5x your annual income. With all the changes coming, worst case scenario you go back down to a perm salary, would your annual salary allow you to borrow enough to buy a place, let alone make the repayments comfortably, bearing in mind the interest rate might start creeping up in the next couple of years (IMO I don't think we'll see a rate rise until 2017)?

I would definitely suggest waiting to see what the effect the Autumn Statement has on contracting at the very least.

[deebeegee]

I'm thinking of buying a flat in London, to live in. I 'm hoping my new place will be a couple of tube stops / walk from my home.

With the uncertainty coming in April 2016, am I unwise?

Quite the opposite, do it now while you can still get a decent mortgage. Trying to buy anything in central london on 4x permie salary will not be fun. especially if you knew you had to live in it.

[MrWebDev]

Quite the opposite, do it now while you can still get a decent mortgage. Trying to buy anything in central london on 4x permie salary will not be fun. especially if you knew you had to live in it.

If you have the money right now, I'd say I probably agree with this. Though I'd be wary that potentially my income could be cut significantly, so I'd want to be extra sure I could pay for it.

I wonder if, post the AS it will affect the way mortgage lenders deal with contractors taking out mortgages?

[AnotherGuy]

Make sure to double check how much the Service Charge + Ground Rent is going to be at the end of each year (and increasing every year).

I've found really outrageous service charges out there for tiny flats (mostly in new buildings). And that's something you will need to pay even if in the future you decide to rent out the property.

[LucidDementia]

The price can only go up.

Or down of course.

[SueEllen]

Or down of course.

If you buy wisely you will be able to rid out the storm.