Live Q&A
What are your job and income prospects like? With unemployment surging and a quarter of the workforce on furlough you may need your savings to bridge the next year or two until the economy and employment levels return to normal. Sinking everything into a new home just as the job centre beckons may not be sensible. With the prospect of unemployment reaching 9% on the Bank of Englands central forecasts it seems there will be significant dampening of property demand, The last time there was this level of unemployment coincides with the long period of falling prices in the early ‘90s
For everyone else the answer is probably best to wait before making a commitment. Trying to anticipate this market is like attempting to catch a falling knife. There are many future unknowns. Will there be a second wave of the pandemic? with we have a V, W U or a Nike swoosh recovery?, how bad will the loss of employment be? Will international protectionism hamper recovery?
The property market is no longer a one way bet, it is now about as random as the Grand National and there is a good way to go before any certainty returns. Will there be a ‘better’ time to buy in the future? almost certainly. Will there be a better time to sell in the future? not for at least 18 months on any prediction.
If you have to move, consider renting out your home and renting a new home, even with the restrictions on Private Residence Relief and the prospect of Capital Gains Tax you may be better off.
Constructive inertia may well be your best friend.
