[user104658]

Renting looking to buy - at this point it's just a matter of the right house coming up (we don't want to leave the area, and essentially can't go far because I'd never force my daughter to switch schools). We're ready to buy though so as soon as the right place comes up, fingers crossed, we will be in it.

The rental and housing market in general is in a very scary place right now - it's not just high rents, we're currently in the position where if our landlord decided to sell up or something, there are no houses. There's NOTHING appropriate to rent for us. A few flats that are not big enough for a family of 4. And I don't mean too expensive, money isn't an issue... I mean they simply do not exist. When good rentals do come up, they have 70 - 100 applications. It's insane and only going to get worse both in terms of availability and pricing... the house price market is relatively stable at the moment but rents are not following suit - demand still outstrips supply, rents are going to continue going up and up.

Basically I feel very grateful to be in a position where we CAN buy ASAP... and will feel much more secure when we have. I think if you want housing security in 5 to 10 years time you need to own your property. It's scarily enough, pretty much that simple.