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Foreign Property Purchase: Currency Issues

Your overseas property purchase

Buying a property overseas, whether as a holiday, retirement or permanent home, or for investment purposes, involves a significant financially outlay. It therefore makes sense to avoid incurring unnecessary costs, which can mount up very quickly for the unwary. In order to do this, you will need to consider all aspects of your purchase in detail.

A vital consideration, and one that is often overlooked, is the foreign exchange element of the purchase. This can make a huge difference to the price in sterling that you will pay for your property.

Whether you are paying cash, taking out a mortgage in the local currency or remortgaging a property in the UK, you will need to transfer pounds sterling into the currency in which you will be making payments on your overseas property. This is where the unprepared can be caught out, often to the tune of thousands of pounds.

As with all the other aspects of property purchase abroad, it is essential to seek appropriate professional advice.

Getting the best deal

To ensure you get the best available deal when transferring money overseas, the following areas are ones to watch:

Exchange rates

Banks take a percentage on the exchange rate that they offer. This can sometimes be more than 3 per cent, depending on the currency that you require. If you are transferring thousands of pounds, this can lead to significant additional cost.

Transfer fees

Banks typically charge between £20 and £40 per transfer. Therefore, the more transfers you make through your bank, the more you will pay in transfer fees.