Thanks for the thoughts ladies.

Interest rates are pretty much at 0%, so even with £40k in the bank, that won't cover £1200 a month rent. We have a high interest rate account and again, even that won't cover it (have looked into this already). And we've calculated if we buy this house on a 20-yr mortgage, we will pay less than the rent each month right now. (A 15-year mortgage would be a little more, but worth it in the long run, as we'd be living there for about 5 years.) However, I haven't looked into overseas accounts, as I know there are other countries where it would be affordable to do this.

We don't love this house, but it is nice and would last us for 5 years until we move again. We'd have a larger deposit by buying. Houses in this area are not difficult to sell. (Major factor for DH.) I will probably be itchy after 3 years, but it will depend on the markets. We are not expecting a rise in house value and are prepared for it to drop too, but should recover over a few years.

If we rent, even for 2-3 years, DH will not allow unpacking of frivolities, including most of my books and some of his tools. I have selected about 100 or so books that are not being packed yet (quite a few DS's) and will be unpacked as soon as we move, no matter where. The other books will either stay in storage or be unpacked a couple of months after we've settled into a bought house. We rented for a year at the start of our marriage and packing everything up was a hassle, not something we'd want to repeat.

Anyway, I was inclined towards buying anyway. DH isn't fussed, but will look at it in preference to renting if the price is right, but isn't easy to please. So let's see what happens now.