If you’re planning to move overseas, of paramount importance is the kind of property you’ll be able to afford. Clearly, the value of the house and state of the property market in your new country will have a big say in that, but so too will the exchange rate, which could make a big difference worth as much as thousands of pounds in a matter of weeks. All of which makes watching the markets and being aware of when they’re in your favour a very worthwhile exercise.
Here’s why it’s so important: say you’re buying a French farmhouse and you needed to transfer £200,000 to pay for it – at today’s exchange rates, you’d get about €243,000. A year ago, that same amount would have got you €13,000 less, a huge difference that could make all the difference when it comes to moving in.
Live Rates for Transferring £200,000 UK Pounds into Euros:
All our rates are updated every 5 minutes to ensure we provide accurate comparisons.
It’s looking like a good time to buy in Europe at the moment, with the pound performing well against the euro, against which, sterling has recently hit a one year high. Add to that a property market which has seen house prices drop in many European countries, and now is looking like a particularly tempting time.
Taking France as an example, according to the national association of French estate agents (FNAIM), house prices outside of Paris fell by an average of 3% in the last year. The hardest hit regions were Franche-Comte (down 6% on the year), Brittany (down 5.7%) and Languedoc-Roussillon (down 5.3%).
It’s not just the euro against which sterling is performing well; GBP/USD, has reached its highest point since November 2009. At the end of February 2014, GBP/USD was at 1.6675, with £300,000 getting you around $500,000. At the start of February, that same amount was worth $494,000 - $6,000 less in the space of a mere few weeks. Going back one year, the GBPUSD rate was at around 1.55, with £300,000 getting you $465,000 – a huge difference of $35,000 in a year.
Live Rates for Transferring £300,000 UK Pounds into US Dollars:
All our rates are updated every 5 minutes to ensure we provide accurate comparisons.
But the thing with exchange rates is that no-one knows when they will change, and the extent to which they change. Sterling could lose its strength at any time, and leave you out of pocket. That’s when it pays to be aware of your options. Some currency exchange companies, including World First, offer forward contracts, which let you fix an exchange rate in advance for a future transfer. Then, if the exchange rates go against you in the meantime, you won’t lose out, because you’ll already have agreed the exchange rate.
Keeping your eye on the markets (or getting someone to do it for you) could pay dividends and may mean that you get a lot more for your money.
