Yorkshire mortgage expert explains why house buyers should take long-term view on 2024 purchases

"We’ve not seen any devaluations on properties at all,” she said.

"People are still buying, first-time buyers are still buying. When you think of it – really they don’t know any different in terms of interest rates coming new into the market.

"People coming off their deals have faced a big impact. But clients have been quite resilient and cut back in other areas of spending.

"There are not as many people looking for houses, there is not a mad rush to look at people’s properties but they are still selling. Sometimes they don’t go through but are still getting resold. It is not the buyers aren’t out there but we are more back in the days of people trying to get a deal off the asking price.

"For 2024 going forward it is knowing when the base rate will come down, if it will, and how much it will. I don’t think we will see a mass decrease, it could even be autumn next year before we see the base rate come down and even then it is not going to come down as quickly as it went up.”

She said that potential buyers and sellers in 2024 should assess their own individual circumstances ahead of attempting to work out when the best time to make a move is.

“I say to everybody your house is an investment in your life. Only clients can answer when the best time is. It could be a move for a job, it could be you have come into inheritance and you want to get a larger property.

"It could be you have saved as a first-time buyer.

"I don’t think there is a good or bad time if you look at a house move as a long-term thing. Back in the early 2000s, you could have bought a property and six months later made a load of money selling it.

"It is not the same as that now. It needs to be a five to 10-year thing really. I advise clients to take the long-term view.

"I genuinely think there is never a bad time to buy or sell because it is your life.

"But residential, certainly in Yorkshire, you are quite safe really as long as you aren’t looking to turn it around in six months, it ticks all the boxes of what you are after and you are not overstretching on borrowing. Hopefully we are seeing the worst of interest rates at the moment and they will start to trickle down again.”