Why Buy Now?
It has been said that no investment is more solid than bricks and mortar, but it will take a longer-term view. The UK is suffering from a national housing shortage. We have, for many years, failed to meet our quota for building new homes. This means demand levels have not dropped and with supply still excessively low we are yet to see a drop in house prices.
Stamp Duty Changes for the Future
There have been changes to the stamp duty amount paid on any house purchase which provides significant savings on previous amounts.
No Stamp Duty paid for First Time Buyers up to a Purchase Price of £425,000
The relief is applied for all properties for First Time Buyers up to £625,000.
For everybody else the price at which stamp duty is paid has been doubled from £125,000 to £250,000.
The Green Agenda
Buying a New Build home can save you up to 65% on your energy bills due to the properties efficiencies in saving energy
You may be eligible for a Green Mortgage which can be a discounted rate or other benefits
Property Prices
Multiple organisations measure house price growth each month and we are yet to see a fall. But if we look at worst case scenario bear in mind a few important factors.
Long term property has always grown in value. It just hasn’t been a straight line.
It’s all relevant, if you sell your property for less, what you next purchase will also have fallen in the market.
Your house is always your home. If you are renting you will have no control of your rent nor if the landlord changes their mind and wishes to sell. Buying a property means it is yours to do as you please.
Interest Rates
The base rate has risen but from historical lows. You can see from the table that interest rates bottomed out and have previously been much higher. We needed a market adjustment to correct the interest rates to help reduce inflation and encourage savings. We are simply returning to the “old normal”. This means that a mortgage is a much cheaper way to borrow than most other loans and the currently available interest rates would have been completely normal in the past.
