The pound against the euro has been bumping along at roughly this level since before Christmas – the technical term is ‘range bound’ – it won’t go on for ever and is as likely to move decisively down as up. Indeed, with more good news coming out of the EU side than the UK right now, the downside looks slightly more likely.
Tourism figures released this morning in Spain show that they have just about returned to pre-pandemic levels. Over four million of us travelled there in January, with the British showing the largest increase – a 104% increase in numbers – with Americans not far behind with a 103% increase. No surprise, to judge by the number of American accents you’re hearing in Spain, Portugal and the Mediterranean.
The Americans have been drawn, no doubt, by the strength of the US dollar, but their own spending power in Europe has declined by over 10% in the past six months, so let’s hope the house buyers among them locked in their exchange rate with a forward contract, or they will be facing a far higher property price than they envisaged.
The same goes for British property buyers, for whom sterling may be weaker than this time last year, but remains above the average in our new post-Brexit reality. If you are making an Easter escape to the Continent, do talk to your trader on 020 8108 5163 before you go. You can prefund your account so that if you see the perfect property you can secure it with a deposit.
In other good news for those buying in or moving to EU countries, inflation has dropped to just 6.9% in the eurozone and 3.3% in Spain, less than a third of the UK’s. Even in Italy it is down to 7.7%.
