Your Overseas Home

Budgeting Tools

It’s no secret that budgeting is key for those looking to buy property or relocate overseas. If you’ve budgeted X-number of pounds or US dollars to buy somewhere, but plan to purchase in euros, exchange rate fluctuations can mean that the price you pay is not the same as your initial agreement, leaving you out of pocket.

 

Let me break it down for you…

 

For example, if you agree to buy a €200,000 property abroad when £1 = €1.20, it will cost you £166,600. But it’s possible that by the time you come to complete the transaction, £1 only buys you €1.15, so the price has shot up to £173,900 – another £7,300.

 

To save yourself time and money, speak to a currency specialist today. They’ll be able to lock in your currency at the present market exchange rate with a forward contract to dodge concerns around market fluctuations.

Speak to a currency specialist

A forward contract takes away that worry. As soon as you agree a price, or even before, just lock in your exchange rate for the year ahead with a forward contract. Then, the price you’re budgeting for a property abroad will be the one you pay. Talk to our currency partner Smart Currency Exchange about doing that.

Of course, currencies can work in your favour too, and the property cost less, but that would be a gamble. A forward contractor takes the risk away.

To see it in action, use this calculator to work out how much you could have saved using a forward contract for your overseas property purchase had you bought in the past year. Then make sure to book a forward contract with our currency specialists.

How to use our forward contract calculator:

  • Choose the currency you hold, for the ‘From Currency’ field.
  • Decide your budget for a property abroad in that currency. 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.
  • Choose the time range you want to calculate currency fluctuations for.
  • See how much a forward contract could have saved you.