The pound had a good day yesterday, rising almost 1 or 2% against EUR and USD respectively. You might have missed it amidst the ongoing Cummings political row, but there’s been some good news lately, including more shops opening in the UK from Monday. There has even been progress on EU negotiations too.
Furthermore, the chief economist at the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, said that we weren’t “remotely” close to negative interest rates.
At Smart we are continuing to work successfully from home, but our colleagues in Spain, who cheerfully suffered a considerably tougher lockdown than in the UK, have returned to our offices on the Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol to prepare for opening.
It’s going to be a nervous reopening as each government peers at the data to see if relaxed lockdowns are allowing infection rates to increase. In the meantime the lights are coming on all across Europe.
To take Spain as an example, their government’s admirably clear communication shows that many of our favourite areas such as the Costa Blanca, Almería, Balearics and Canary Islands are now in “phase 2”. This means that beaches, bars, restaurants and shops are open, with social distancing and up to 50% capacity.
Property viewings have been possible for some time there, so it is really only the flights issue that is stopping us moving ahead with our plans, and in Spain at least the current quarantine requirements for overseas visitors will end on 1 July, just five weeks away.
There may be more twists and turns in the story but the way out is becoming very clear. In a survey we conducted recently we found our clients were highly motivated and enthusiastic to buy property abroad asap – and of course we have the transition period deadline looming.
To speak to your trader about restarting your plans just call 020 8108 5337.
In particular you may want to lock in the excellent rate today with a forward contract for the year ahead.
