Best buys abroad for holiday homes

A comparison of eight prominent countries where the British traditionally buy holiday homes reveals that four have seen property price falls of as much as 30% in the last twelve months, and all have seen mortgage costs reduced by up to 56%, despite the dramatic fall in exchange rates over the same period.

Research by Currency Index Ltd, a subsidiary of leading property website, Propertyindex.com, suggests that property in Spain, Bulgaria, Portugal and the USA have all dropped in price from last year. Spain leads the way with an average drop of more than 30% for two bedroom apartments in the Costas (see Table 1. in attachment).

While prices in Turkey have stayed static, France, Greece and Italy have all seen property getting more expensive for UK cash purchasers.

But when it comes to mortgages, all eight countries have seen the loan repayment levels get cheaper due to central banks across the world drastically cutting base rates. This means that for those UK buyers wanting a home-loan for Spanish property, mortgages are more than 56% cheaper this year (see Table 2. in attachment).

Robin Haynes of Currency Index Ltd, comments: “With property prices and mortgage repayments now significantly lower than in 2008 in many of the UK’s favourite foreign holiday home destinations, we are seeing a renewed demand for currency exchange as people pick up property bargains in Spain, Florida and elsewhere around the world.

“Although exchange rates have dropped across the board since last year, hitting the headlines, buyers using a broker are still able to get their currency at a competitive rate and, combined with falling property prices, this means that a dream home abroad is actually more affordable than buyers may think.”