Sterling Confusing Matters for Expats

Gary Howes, www.smeweb.com

People in the UK are looking once again to buy property overseas.

The last year has seen an exodus of expats leaving their Eurozone homes to return to the UK – but since January 2009, currency broker FC Exchange has seen a massive 60 percent increase on the previous six months of clients repatriating their funds from selling their property abroad.

The rollercoaster ride Sterling has taken has been well documented over the last year and has forced people to lose out on thousands of Pounds through exchange rates, particularly with the Euro.

As the value of their pensions and savings dwindle, many Brits have put their properties on the market as they are unable to afford to live abroad. But it is only recently that people offloading their overseas properties have started to sell them as global property markets have started to rise.

Daniel Wray, Senior Currency Broker at FC Exchange, commented: “Whilst the exchange rate remained at shocking levels and the recession bit deeply, no-one was really able to sell their properties overseas, or if they did, they made significant losses. As the property markets start to pick up, more people are selling their overseas homes and moving back to the UK. However, with Sterling making gains on the Euro - albeit small one’s – we’re also finding that people in the UK are looking once again to buy property overseas.

Now Sterling is improving against a raft of currencies, I think we’ll see a break from the Eurozone as the traditional expat zone, as it’ll still be some time before it returns to what it once was. Other countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia and Canada are proving to offer far more against Sterling so we may well see some breakout countries becoming the new favourites.”

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