As if the credit crunch and the impending recession weren't enough, the downside for Brits wanting to buy overseas has been compounded by the plummeting value of the pound.
In just 12 months, sterling's value has slipped from €1.45 to under €1.20 - a fall of almost 20%. Against the dollar, the decline has been even more dramatic. As recently as July you could get $2 for every pound; by late November that had fallen to under $1.50.
Psychologically, it's a serious deterrent for buyers, as it means you could be paying significantly more for the same property than you would have a year ago. What's more, the cost of living in most overseas countries has also gone up accordingly - so that pint of beer, restaurant meal and weekly grocery shop will all be more expensive.
There are a few countries outside the dollar and the euro where the exchange rate pain has not been quite so profound - TURKEY springs to mind - but by and large, overseas homes are less of a bargain than they used to be.
So what can you do about it? One option - if you believe that the pound will make a recovery - is to take out a mortgage in the local currency. Say you want to buy an apartment in France or Spain that costs €200,000, and you take out a Euro-denominated loan for €150,000. Then only the €50,000 deposit will suffer from the conversion at a poor exchange rate, and if sterling recovers in a year's time you could potentially refinance the property at a more attractive conversion rate. This works especially well if you will be earning rental income in the local currency to pay the mortgage interest; but it is a high risk strategy - after all, sterling could decline still further.
Another option is to look in markets where property prices have fallen significantly. Spain is the obvious example; in spite of official figures which purport to show that property prices are still rising, evidence on the ground is that prices have already fallen by around 20% on average, and with many developers on the Costa del Sol or Costa Blanca in financial trouble you could get an even bigger discount, wiping out the effect of sterling's falling value. But don't buy just on the discount - after all, too many properties in Spain were over-priced in the first place.
Ask us how to save money on your new mortgage and buy smart in 2009.
www.girasolhomes.co.uk * www.girasol-bespoke.com
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