Thanks for taking the time for the thoughtful detailed replies.
I still maintain that buying a house is not trivial - there are transaction costs. solicitor fees, stamp duty etc. It restricts mobility - somewhat.
The other reason in my case is I will not get a mortgage (no job). In my GIA, I have spare cash but in order to buy a property in cash I may need to sell equities (tax consequences) and/or pull from ISA, SIPP which I am reluctant to do OR move my extra cash from US (again repatriation tax consequences). Should have got a mortgage when employed and interest rates were almost zero. Anyway no point looking back. In any case sinking a large amount of money into an illiquid asset seems questionable without strong ties to UK (family, high flying career etc ).
basically no commitment. Altho I love the country, the greenery, countryside etc, my friends here are busy with their lives and having stopped work, my social life is also reducing. I don’t have any health problems now but as I grow older, if I develop problems it may be better to go back to my original home country which has excellent private care, altho it has other problems. Here NHS has its own challenges … UK’s private healthcare is one of the best in the world - my favourite being Harley Street but if I really get a health problem I cannot keep going to Harley Street. And only the super rich can afford to live in Hyde Park or Marylebone. If something happens to me I probably want to pack my bags and quickly go back to my country of birth.
Honest truth is I really don’t know where I want to be. Thinking of Portugal, Greece, Cyprus etc.
Also, Adam Smith’s old Division of labour, specialisation, comparative advantage principle would say : let someone who knows how to be a landlord provide that service. For example at one time businesses had on premise software. Then cloud computing took over and now businesses use software as a service. I don’t buy a cow in order to get milk. Uber + public transport instead of owning a car. But I do appreciate that in UK, owning a home is aspirational and a mark of success, I get that. In Switzerland people rent into old age.
At 200K I could probably consider buying as it is not a lot of money and I have the cash. In my part of Berkshire, I can get new build flats but they drop in value like stale food. I have seen nominal price decrease from £200K in 2008 (£320K in today’s money) to £150K on rightmove last month. Period conversion flats hold their value and they are absolutely charming, but not sure how much to spend on heat/sound insulation. I am certainly no expert on period properties. Or I could go for a bog standard terraced house, and tbh I would be happy with 1 bedroom house but the 1 bedroom houses (few in number) are absolutely tiny - the claustrophobia !! 2 bedrooms are not much better. I want a living room and at least one bedroom both at least 15 ft x 10 ft plus some storage space but even that seems to be too much to ask. A decent sized 2 bedroom easily crosses 350K. I wish I could find a flat with those dimensions and service charge that wont go thru the roof and the flat will hold its value at least in nominal terms if not in real terms. Or perhaps buy a highly depreciated new build flat. How low can it go ?
which brings me back to renting. Back to my original question. Given my financial situation, if I can show 100 x monthly_rent in cash, would a landlord be happy to rent to me ?
The other question is whether I can afford rent forever. Well if rent goes up with inflation or even in a hyperinflation scenario, my portfolio of world equities and inflation linked bonds should hopefully take care of me since my ask is just a basic one bedroom place.
In the long run I agree owning will save me money but since I dont have heirs I only need to worry about Not running out of money. Whatever is left will go to charity. Owning a house makes sense if I had children, they are there to take care of me in old age and inherit the home after I am gone. For single people buying a home is like tethering myself to a lamppost. The flexibility sounds better, provided investment growth can ensure I dont go bankrupt.
Sorry not trying to be argumentative. Just wanted to express my thoughts. Sorry it became too lengthy.
So, regarding my original question : the answer should be affirmative ?
Cheers