YOUR OVERSEAS HOME
Understanding your property budget
Budgeting for your overseas property purchase or relocation can be made slightly more complex when currency exchange is involved.
A British person buying in the UK, or an American buying in their home state, wouldn’t accept that the price of the property you are buying changes between deposit and completion – so why accept that when buying a property in France?
We have partnered with Smart Currency Exchange to offer their expertise in helping you protect your budget and offer guidance on how best to pay for your property abroad.
Use our currency risk calculator
Use the budgeting tool below to reveal just how much a forward contract could save you on your overseas property purchase – based on real data over the past year.
Take control of your budget
Smart Currency Exchange offer a tool called a forward contract – which your bank and other money transfer apps/providers are unable to offer.
With a forward contract, you can lock in an exact exchange rate for up to 12 months. Agree your price today – and know exactly what you’ll pay for your property upon completion. It’s the perfect tool for large payments with uncertain timeframes (like overseas property completion dates!).
This strategy removes the ‘what if’ from your budget. It offers clarity and certainty – especially in times of volatile markets.
How to use our risk calculator
- Choose the currency you hold, for the ‘From Currency’ field.
- Enter the price of the property you are buying. If you’re not sure, estimate it based on your affordability calculator or those you like on our property portal.
- Choose the currency you’re buying a property in, for the ‘To Currency’ field.
- See how much Smart Currency Exchange could help you by working with them to protect against currency fluctuations.
How exchange rates can impact your property budget
Imagine you’re buying a property in France, priced at €200,000. At a rate of 1 GBP = 1.20 EUR, that property will cost you £166,600 which you need to budget for. But, if the exchange rate moves to 1.15 before the completion date, that cost increases significantly to £173,900 – leading to you unnecessarily paying an additional £7,300, for reasons beyond your control.
Currencies fluctuate by as much as 10% in the space of a year and we have seen it happen too often where buyers forget to protect their budgets against currency fluctuations. Your agreed price should be the price you pay.