Ive recently got a new job in sheffield and will be moving into the area as soon as my current house sells. I have been warned that the market is moving quite slowly in the area and this may take several months.

My inital thoughts were to buy in sheffield immediately, but then as I know no-one in the area thought that moving into shared accommodation for a time might be the better move.

My problem is I have a limited budget for the house purchase and dont want to be priced out of market by waiting perhaps up to 9 months.

Could anyone give me any idea how fast the market is moving?

Kerry:)

Kerry

DO not believe the hype.

Despite what the agents, and some of this forum, will tell youthe market in Sheffield is much the same as the rest of the country.

Rent and save a packet.

CHeers

d

renting atm costs at least as much as a mortgage for brick and morter...
largely cos of lots of wannabe landlords buying houses while expensive and have to cover expensive mortgage + their bit.

Buy a place and pay similar to renting but buying your own property you can paint + drill holes in etc. :)

Rent. See what happens in 6-12 months and you'll also get a better feel for the city and the area you might want to live in.

You also don't have to waste money doing a place up, getting things fixed and paying lots of fees!

Rent is money down the drain.

Unless you're planning to buy the house and sell it within a short period then I don't see what there is to worry about. There is little chance of the house market crash happening, so even if they do go up slowly or drop slightly, you just have to ride the storm and sell at the right time.

Afterall you can always rent out houses yourself....

There is little chance of the house market crash happening

Says who? I don't think anyone can actually say that. We are entering a period of economic slowdown, rising unemployment, increasing inflation, reduced consumer confidence. House price inflation has virtually stopped and most prediction are for a fall or stagnation over the next couple of years.

I'm no economist but I personally believe it would be a mistake to buy in the current economic climate.

All I would say is don't listen to the mainstream press, read around the subject, look at graphs/charts, don't follow the herd. If then you decide you still think it is a good time to buy then do it.

If I moved to a new town I wouldn't buy straight away as it's very hard to gauge where you may want to actually live straight away

I’ve just bought after years of renting. My mortgage for a two bed maisonette is the same as my rent on a damp one bedroom flat. For a quicker move and as you don’t know Sheffield I would suggest renting first, but try to get a rolling month tenancy rather than being stuck in a place for a minimum period. Start looking straight away for something to buy though. Don’t listen to the scare mongers about the market crashing. Halifax have just announced that house prices increased at a faster rate in September than they have for a few months because first-time buyers have been bouyed by the cut in interest rates. Plus Sheffield’s prices have not increased by nearly as much as some other parts of the country, so there’s still some element of ‘catching up’ to be done. I was worried that I was buying at completely the wrong time, just as the market peaked, but my old landlord, who has over 100 properties, re-assured me that I was actually buying at just the right time and there is still quite a lot of scope for price rises in this area.

Take a look on ourproperty.co.uk (and others) to see how much prices have increased.

Renting is "money down the drain" in the very long term. But make sure you don't get an interest only mortgage as this would be even more money down the drain.

There are dozens of variables to take into account when examining the property you want to buy/rent. I don't think its a straightforward answer.

Halifax prices (and all price indexes) need to be taken with a pinch of salt. A rise may just mean that a greater number of expensive properties have been sold. It doesn't mean there aren't reductions to be had further down the market.

Do you really believe first time buyers have been buoyed by a 1/4 point cut in interest rates? People who jump on the housing market due to something as insignificant as this (when other economic factors show a weakening economy) deserve to be burnt in my opinon.

As I said before - read around the headlines, take your time and don't believe a headline such as "House Prices Stabilising"

local house prices are still increasingly slowly (well compared to recently anyway).

So whilst you might want to take a month or two to choose the right place, I wouldn't plan on taking 9.

If you're planning to stay put for a while then even if house prices fell you'd still be better off than having thrown money away renting. The only danger would be if interest rates rose and you were already stretched to pay the mortgage.

Not sure I agree, Cyclone prices have fallen by about 5% in the areas I buy in Sheff since summer 2004. There are areas of the country where prices are still rising thou.

Remember house price cycles are very slow (10yrs+). The massive gains of the last few years are exceptional, and it is likely that prices will remain static/fall for a few more years, not months! Future growth is unlikely until affordability improves, IMHO this could be a decade away.

However there are many other reasons for holding property other than it's investment potential, so try not to see it as a way of making money but also a pleasant place to live - after all you've got to live somewhere...

Prices will always tend to rise in the long term but beware as you may lose money in the next few years. In view of this you will probably get a better deal in 9 months than now, and certainly not be priced out of the market!

Originally posted by dudu
However there are many other reasons for holding property other than it's investment potential, so try not to see it as a way of making money but also a pleasant place to live - after all you've got to live somewhere...



I agree with you there dudu- this is something that a lot of people lose sight of when buying a house/home- I was going to say the same myself, but you beat me to it!

Has anyone noticed the amount of properties which have been reduced in price? (though I think they were obviously over priced to begin with)

Buy somewhere cheap - it is a buyers market. The housing market in Sheffield seems to have slowed down a lot, so it should be a lot easier to buy now than it was a few years ago.

I have been looking at houses and there is definately a slight fall. Over the past few years people nearly always bid above asking in Sheffield. Now vendors are lucky to get asking price as there are fewer buyers so there is less competition for each property.

However one thing to bear in mind is the change in pensions and the fact that from next April people with a big enough pension pot can buy another property thru their pension with huge concessions with tax and capital gains. Some experts therefore are predicting price rises as this kicks in and 1000s of people take advantage of this.

Originally posted by vision
I have been looking at houses and there is definately a slight fall. Over the past few years people nearly always bid above asking in Sheffield. Now vendors are lucky to get asking price as there are fewer buyers so there is less competition for each property.

However one thing to bear in mind is the change in pensions and the fact that from next April people with a big enough pension pot can buy another property thru their pension with huge concessions with tax and capital gains. Some experts therefore are predicting price rises as this kicks in and 1000s of people take advantage of this.

can you link to any details about that, it sounds interesting but i've not heard it mentioned before.

Originally posted by Cyclone
can you link to any details about that, it sounds interesting but i've not heard it mentioned before.

If you type 'property and pensions 2006' into google you can take your pick for info. Also the financial papers have articles on it.

Thank you for all this information, will definately have a look on google about the pension property scheme.

I too believe that renting is a waste of money, but in the short turm if property prices are not rising at a alarming rate think it may be best for the short term in that I will hopefully meet some like minded people and get to know my way round Sheffield a little.

Somebody did mention to me that if my current house doesnt sell that I could lease it out and I wouldnt have to change the morgage to a buy to let or inform the mortgage company, and that the only problem maybe if I had to claim off the house insurance.

This seems a little sus to me, and is leasing different than renting a property out. I am a little green at all this so any help would be appreciated!!!!

Thanks again

Kerry:)

the pensions articles have not been finalised yet and if the money was tax free the government would not give tax relief as they have already given you 22% on the end figure

I'm speaking to plenty of agents at the moment as a buyer (so I'm a bit of a vested interest). One of the biggest recently informed me that it has reduced asking prices on all their properties by 5%. Given that the national differential between asking price and selling price is 7%, that gives you an idea of how things are: prices are falling, houses aren't selling. I've been watching the market for over a year (some houses been on the market for a year...)

Also, be careful with the "rental money is money down the drain" argument. There's a lot of ownership costs associated with both buying and running a house that is included in a once a month rental cost. Also, that doesn't include potential negative equity...

However, no one can argue with the fact that it can be a lot of fun owning your own place!

If you think you will be happy living somewhere you buy for at least 5 years then it is not a huge deal if house prices fall in the short term.

In most areas of Sheffield houses are not overpriced and they are unlikely to dramtically drop in price over the medium term. The dangerous thing is if you are buying at the absolute upper end of what you can afford and interest rates rise a lot, which is a possibiity, then you may be in the position of being desperate to sell to move to a smaller property.

as long as you think through all the options thoroughly you shouldn't get into too much trouble. Its going in with their eyes shut that gets people into difficulty, as long as you foresee the potential pitfalls, then you can be prepared for them.

I monitor prices using the very unscientific method of checking the asking price whenever a house goes up for sale on my road.

Originally posted by geo666uk
the pensions articles have not been finalised yet and if the money was tax free the government would not give tax relief as they have already given you 22% on the end figure

Agreed, details have not yet been finalised but as it stands it looks as though your pension pot would buy property at a concession of 22% or 40% (higher band) just like they do for stakeholder pensions etc. and it would be managed by your pension agency and if it was sold you would not pay capital gains as it would be part of the pension.
However there are disadvantages too - you would have no control over the property at all and could not decide to sell it without permission. Also if it was a holiday home and you wanted to use it you would have to pay the going rate.