Hi All. Appreciate this is a strange place to post for this type of advice but it’s not my only avenue and I know there are Palace fans on here from all walks of life with varying degree of experiences so am looking to fellow fans for any advice whatsoever. I’d really appreciate it.

I’m in the late stages of buying my first home. I’m literally weeks away from being able to complete and of course the Coronavirus has struck plunging everything into uncertainty. I was expecting the Sellers to make my mind up for me but they still seem keen to press ahead and get into their new home.

I’ll explain my situation as much as possible as it’s different for everyone. I live at home with my Parents currently and all my savings will go into the deposit for this new flat. I will be living alone and don’t need to rely on anyone else or a partner. I’m obviously not a property guru and I know it’s a terrible time to invest in property but I wonder if it will make that much of a difference to people like me, small fry, looking for their first property to just live in for at least 5 years rather than flip it.

My job is relatively safe. I work in IT for a Global company and home working has legitimately been that - work. I have had less free time than in the Office and whilst the entire business could go under, all the time it’s around I think they’re going to need IT. I’ve been assured of this as much as possible right now by bosses also.

I honestly don’t know whether to press ahead. I certainly want the property and haven’t ‘settled’ for something within budget. It is a lovely place for my price and I was so excited. Am I totally stupid pressing ahead? I wonder if anyone in estate that is also a Palace fan might have some sort of prediction just how much these properties might drop?

Also of course if they drop too much, people just might not sell so I won’t be able to get a nice place anyway even if they should be statistically cheaper.

Other issue of course is even if I complete in a week, the usual excitement and planning around re-decorating and furniture is out the window because all the home improvement and DFS etc are shut so I probably won’t be able to live there for at least 2 months.

I appreciate this is an impossible question with no definitive answer but if anyone has the spare time to throw in their own opinion I’d very much appreciate it. Thanks Palace Community!

If you have agreed to buy but have not yet transferred, penalties can still apply. Make sure you are financially free to back out.

Red and Blue Army!

I would wait until this blows over as property will be at its lowest point then .The people your buying off probably know this and want a decent price now.Only my opinion good luck

I bought my flat in 2009, and so was looking in the wake of that financial crisis. What mainly happened then wasn't that property prices crashed and you could wade in and fill your boots, rather that it stagnated, there wasn't so much about, prices stayed the same.

I'm not sure property always works the same as 'the markets' as people will often just choose not to move rather than wipe out tens/ hundreds of thousands of pounds from the only substantial investment they have.

That said, there would seem to be little advantage in pressing ahead. If, as is pretty likely, this turns out to be of a different order of magnitude to 2008 many will have little choice but to take what they can get and prices will be lower and you will have taken a, possibly substantial, hit before you're able to move in. If something similar happens then you haven't lost anything other than time which is happening anyway.

That's obviously all anecdotal from personal experience. I was buying in south London so maybe there was also a difference there, if you are not buying in London. Pretty much anywhere, there would seem little prospect of prices going up any time soon so there'll be stuff around after all this. You're not looking at dream lifetime home stuff and the hit could easily be big enough from this, and possibly Brexit, to still be meaningful over the 5 year period you mention.

I see on the BBC News app this morning there is a piece saying that buyers & renters considering moving house during the emergency period are strongly urged not to do so , so as not to increase risks associated with further spreading the disease - it dosent say dont move house by law -but .........

Very hard to predict obviously, post 2008 the dip was around 20% at it’s worst. This time is a totally different scenario but personally I’d expect it to go lower this time due to the hit everyone is taking on income.

Vive le Roy!