This morning sterling hit yet another nine-month high against the euro and a nearly three-year-high against the US dollar.
The prompt for the currency graphs shooting up so fast is the health graphs going down so fast. In our corner of Hammersmith, for example, over the last seven days Covid-infection rates have fallen by 35% and patients in hospital by 24.5%. In just seven days!
Hammersmith is still slightly above the national average for cases but it seems clear that barring even newer new variants we can start planning for a better future.
Speaking of West London, the corporate side of our business, Smart Currency Business, won Finance Business of the Year at the West London Business Awards last week. To put that in context, this is the UK’s second largest economic powerhouse, with a £50bn economy that includes blue-chip firms such as Heathrow and PwC, so we’re very proud of the business team led by Carl Hasty.
If your business – or that of someone you work with – is exposed to the ups and downs of the currency markets, do speak to our award-winning team here. They can help in so many ways.
Back to the subject at hand, the news has been highly supportive of sterling lately. There has even been data showing that freight traffic across the Channel is at 99% of 2019 levels, even with Covid and Brexit, although it seems that many of the lorries are empty.
It won’t take a great deal to knock sterling back, however, so please don’t make any financial commitments based on this GBP rate, without locking it in via a forward contract, so you know you have the money when you come to purchase.
We see it so many times, that people make offers on property when sterling is strong, then struggle to find another £10,000 or more on completion day because sterling has fallen. It is all so unneccessary; just speak to your trader on 020 8108 5337.
One final plug, on Friday we are sponsoring two webinars with Your Overseas Home, one on buying a home in Greece and one of buying a home in Cyprus and maybe retiring there too – everything you need to know in one hour. You can sign up here.
