by SouthLondonDaddy » Tue Oct 27, 2020 4:36 pm
I can strongly recommend these local architects:
http://www.simbiosiarchitects.com/index.php/en/
As for house prices, it's anyone's guess, really.
There has been a lot of interest over the last few months for all kinds of properties with an outside space. Flats with no garden have been much harder to sell. This additional interest is not anecdotal: many banks have hiked interest rates because they couldn't keep up with the demand for mortgages (the Financial Times a few days ago).
However, some, including me, think this is driven by the closure of the real estate market during lockdown, the interest in a garden/bigger space after lockdown, and the stamp duty holiday.
Next year, when the stamp duty holiday ends, when Brexit starts to bite, with possibly way more redundancies because of all of this and the end of furlough, it may well be a very different story.
I would definitely not buy a house now but of course I fully get it that lots of people disagree.
Also remember that, if you are not buying an additional property as an investment but as a place to live, the alternative you need to compare it to is renting; over long enough periods of time, buying tends to be cheaper than renting even if house prices stay flat or go down a bit. If you sell a big house after only 2 years, even if prices have stayed flat, chances are you won't recover all the fixed costs (stamp duty, legal fees, some renovation, etc.)
I can strongly recommend these local architects: http://www.simbiosiarchitects.com/index.php/en/
As for house prices, it's anyone's guess, really.
There has been a lot of interest over the last few months for all kinds of properties with an outside space. Flats with no garden have been much harder to sell. This additional interest is not anecdotal: many banks have hiked interest rates because they couldn't keep up with the demand for mortgages (the Financial Times a few days ago).
However, some, including me, think this is driven by the closure of the real estate market during lockdown, the interest in a garden/bigger space after lockdown, and the stamp duty holiday.
Next year, when the stamp duty holiday ends, when Brexit starts to bite, with possibly way more redundancies because of all of this and the end of furlough, it may well be a very different story.
I would definitely not buy a house now but of course I fully get it that lots of people disagree.
Also remember that, if you are not buying an additional property as an investment but as a place to live, the alternative you need to compare it to is renting; over long enough periods of time, buying tends to be cheaper than renting even if house prices stay flat or go down a bit. If you sell a big house after only 2 years, even if prices have stayed flat, chances are you won't recover all the fixed costs (stamp duty, legal fees, some renovation, etc.)
