A new survey conducted by overseas property consultants at YourOverseasHome.com has revealed a major worry for homebuyers abroad.
It's the risk that between agreeing a price in euros or dollars, and paying for the property on completion several weeks or months later, that the price rises dramatically.
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 Your Overseas Home's respondents said that it would pose a significant problem.
Christopher Nye, property expert at Your Overseas Home, said: "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 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."
