How sterling exchange rates impact foreign property purchases (Dayle Littlejohn)

For many of my new clients they are spending their easter break on foreign soil hunting for their dream holiday or new home. The norm for purchasing a property in Europe is to pay a 10% deposit and then the remainder 1-3 months later. For clients that are not experienced within the currency market, exchange rates can have a major impact on the price.

For example exchange rates within the last 6 months have fluctuated 10 cents and six months ago were at their lowest point. Therefore if a client had started their search six months ago and they budgeted at rates of 1.10 a €200,000 purchase is now £11,000 cheaper.

An option for all of my clients is to purchase all of their currency when they purchase their deposit. The reason why they do this is to budget and now have the worry that exchange rates could fall.

However other clients will ask for potential events that could impact exchange rates and thats when I come in.

For clients purchasing properties in Europe in the upcoming months, I believe there could be a spike in the market to take advantage of towards the end of this month, which will make property purchases cheaper.

The French public are set to take a trip to the polling stations to decide who they want to run the country and recent polls are suggesting Marine Le Pen has a good chance of winning. Anti EU Le Pen has made it clear she would hold a referendum in regards to EU membership, therefore investor confidence is going to be low within the Eurozone, which in turn should devalue the euro.

If you are purchasing a property abroad and would like to save as much money as possible by achieving the best exchange rates, I would recommend sending me an email with when you need to purchase your deposit and if you have a completion date. I will respond with the options available to you and the process of using our brokerage [email protected].

If you have sold your property abroad and have your euros in a euro account waiting to be transferred, I would recommend selling as soon as you can and not gambling with the French election. If you are using your bank or another brokerage, drop me an email asking for our live price as I am confident I will be able to generate your more sterling given the chance [email protected].

Enjoy the Easter break and I look forward to speaking with you soon.