Last summer - just as the Northern Rock storm broke – I was in the process of buying a flat in Brighton.
The deal dragged on and then eventually collapsed because the sellers were convinced that prices would just keep on rising - this despite my best efforts to explain that the market really was at its peak (never has the phrase “I’m a property journalist” fallen on such deaf ears!)
They refused to budge and then pulled out of the deal. With the market looking shaky, I decided to rent.
The question I’m mulling over at the moment is whether I should buy now or hold on a bit longer?
And I’m not alone. Yesterday a colleague wandered over to my desk. “Mike,” he said (with barely a trace of irony), “I’m told you’re the font of all housing knowledge: should I buy now?”

Yes, yes, that’s me folks, and speaking in my official capacity as TFOAHK (think long white beard, flowing robes, rather cool sandals, booming voice), let me say this unto you all:
Even when a plague – or a credit crunch - falleth upon the land and all seems dark and hopeless there will be opportunities out there. Although recent reports would have you believe the market has ground to a halt, people are still buying. And let’s be fair – they can’t all be mad.
Some quick-witted investors and first-time buyers are bagging bargains and some people trading up have discovered that what they lose in a price reduction on their place they gain in a price cut on their new home.
But buying now very much depends on your personal circumstances (financial and otherwise), your local market, and your attitude to risk.
In Brighton asking prices don’t seem to have fallen much - by just under ten per cent in the area I was previously considering. And when I did a few calculations the other day I discovered that rate rises have pretty much negated those falls.
My rent is currently 30 per cent less that what my mortgage payments would be, saving rates are high and prices look like they could slide further in the months ahead, so I’m thinking I’ll sit tight – at least for the moment.
In the meantime, I’ll be keeping a close eye on things – though I’m conscious that there are an awful lot of people out there doing the same thing: our stats man tells me visitors to FindaProperty.com have held very firm over the past six months (at around 2.4m) and are up 16 per cent year-on-year (see table below).
That represents an awful lot of pent up demand and I reckon it will start to translate into sales as the market begins to bottom out. When will that be? Quite honestly, I have no idea (and neither does anyone else).
But I can see things picking up if prices fall for another five or six months and then interest rates/mortgage rates edge down: the combination of enticing prices and lower mortgage payments is bound to bring buyers back. And then it really will be a case of “On your marks…”
