"With a property purchase overseas costing hundreds of thousands of euros or dollars, and there being months between agreeing to buy and actually paying up, a falling pound could mean having to find tens of thousands of pounds extra at the last minute"
- Christopher Nye - Your Overseas Home
New research conducted by overseas property consultants at YourOverseasHome.com has highlighted that the risk of dramatic price rises due to agreeing on a price in euros or dollars and paying for the property on completion several weeks or months later poses a significant threat to buyers.
Should the pound weaken mid-property purchase, buyers might need to find thousands more pounds to complete. In Your Overseas Home’s survey, this was revealed to be a serious worry.
The survey gained over 5,000 responses from people who are in the process of buying a property in France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus or Portugal about their thoughts, opinions and experiences of buying property abroad.
When asked the question: ‘So far in 2023, the pound to euro exchange rate has fluctuated by nearly 5%. If you had to find thousands more to complete your property purchase, how big a problem would that be?’, 40% of respondents said that it would pose a significant problem.
Christopher Nye, property expert at Your Overseas Home, comments: “As many will know from getting holiday cash over the summer, exchange rates fluctuate every day.
“With a property purchase overseas costing hundreds of thousands of euros or dollars, and there being months between agreeing to buy and actually paying up, a falling pound could mean having to find tens of thousands of pounds extra at the last minute.
“Property buyers are right to be worried, especially with elections in the UK and the US next year potentially affecting exchange rates. Fortunately, you can avoid this risk by fixing your exchange rate with a foreign exchange specialist that specialises in property buying.”
“It’s all about being smart, knowing the risks of buying abroad in advance and planning for them. That’s what Your Overseas Home is for.”
