Moving house during Brexit?

[chris7676]

mike74 said:

Had a msg from an Estate Agent mate a little earlier, their phones have been ringing non-stop all morning with buyers withdrawing or reducing their offers.

Which area ?

[Sam.]

I feel i may or may not be one of the lucky ones. We completed our purchase Yesturday (24th June). I feel for a lot of people as ive had a friend be let down due to someone pulling out and completely ruining his plans.

[hyperblue]

I'm about 80% through the process of buying my first flat (not new build). I'm intending to proceed, but hoping nobody in the chain gets spooked by Brexit. Bad timing and added stress unfortunately.

[sealtt]

My opinion would be, don't push yourself too much on the finance (ideally aiming for 60% LTV outstanding when you come to refinance in 2 / 5 years incase liquidity is tight) and use this Brexit result to get a discount, a house today is no way worth as much as it was on the 22nd June, things have changed. I'd want 5% off minimum for carrying on through the increased risk now present.

[Ginge R]

rs4al said:

Don't exchange contracts yet, ring up the house builder, threaten to pull out and negotiate a lower price, the house builders are fecked for the short term and will probably bite your hand off.

If you have the minstrels !!

I've advised two clients to do this and have started negotiating on behalf of one, with one local builder (much to their angst). It's not edifying or British, but who cares. My only reservation is that lenders are going to get more discriminating. As we tip into the quiet periods of Autumn/Winter, and with consumer confidence shaken, it looks like being a buyers market for a while.

[FreeLitres]

Quick update from the OP: Our buyers have just pulled out.

fking brilliant.

[jinkster]

Sold ours a couple of days ago. We bought 2 weeks ago. Im not concerned at all.

[rehab71]

We accepted an offer (asking price) about 2 weeks before the EU vote. She's a cash buyer and she is renting and we're going in to one of my parents rentals, I feel if there was a chain and mortgages involved the situation might be different.

I'm not panicking and that's what the economy needs, people getting on as normal and spending their money. Easier said then done though.

The area of the country you're in will also make a difference I think. We're in The New Forest and it's pretty desirable so I think property will continue to shift and a fair rate down here.

[djc206]

I think it'll depend on the market in your local area. My gf sold her house in Co Durham earlier this year, took 6 months to sell which is typical of the local area, prices were still below 2007 levels in real terms. Contrast that with here where every house that goes on the market locally for less than ~£500k seems to sell within a couple of weeks. If the market slows that could mean her old house is nigh on unsaleable whereas down here it might take a couple of months to sell. Who knows!

My personal opinion and hope is that the BoE will leave interest rates be for a short while to see where things stabilise and then make the tough to call on whether to raise or lower them although I would suspect that the initial change would be small (0.25%) so as not to throw the market into utter chaos.

We have probably got an LTV of 85% as this our first house but we're here for the long run and didn't stretch ourselves on the mortgage so are able to weather pretty much any storm. This could hamper any hope of moving up the ladder to our dream home in the future though if we end up burdened with negative equity. Interesting times ahead.

Sorry to hear that your buyers pulled OP, fingers crossed for you.