The pound hit its highest rate for three months against the euro yesterday and for nine months against the US dollar.
The most obvious cause is the relative strength of the UK’s fight against Covid compared to the rest of Europe – and that’s not a sentence I expected to be writing a couple of months ago – and the recovery in the UK economy. For example, data yesterday indicated an increase in demand for credit and a mini boom in housing.
There are only two or three months before it becomes unrealistic to expect to be able to gain residency in an EU country before the end of the transition period – what with the bureaucratic processes involved.
I was looking at the results of a survey of would-be property buyers in Italy at the weekend. Of the British respondents, around 12% said they intended being resident by the end of the year. However, an incredible 50% said they would like to be, but didn’t think they could move in time.
Given how many of us are working from home right now, and the long-term financial advantage of keeping your current EU rights to live and work abroad without any need for the hassles of acquiring a visa, I urge anyone keen to be living abroad to just go there and do it! You don’t need to buy for now, you can do that at your leisure later.
Having said all that, who knows where we will be in a year’s time? Maybe all the post-Brexit processes will be worked out smoothly and Europe will lay out the red carpet for British residents. Maybe…
We have a highly volatile autumn ahead of us. On Covid, we have a vaccine coming one way down the track and a second Covid wave down the other. In the US election, with nine weeks until voting day polls suggest that President Trump is cutting into Joe Biden’s lead. With that comes the increased likelihood of a legal battle over the result. On Brexit, it seems clear that whether or not we get a deal on the future arrangements with the EU is a political decision that could go either way.
With all that uncertainty, at least you can rely on one thing: your exchange rate for the whole year ahead if you lock in today’s 3-month/9-month high with a forward contract.
Give your trader a call on 020 8108 5337.
