The good news this morning is that – in England anyway – all sorts of new freedoms are available to us. That includes being able to buy and sell property.
Those of us traveling to France won’t need to go into quarantine when the borders are open. As yet the ferries are still running for freight and ‘essential’ travel only, but we expect a rush of British people to be heading to France again looking for property (and residency) before the transition period ends.
You may have noticed that as soon as the summer holidays come round – for the past few years anyway – the pound appears to sink like a stone. Correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation, but even so, the French for ‘Sod’s Law’ is loi de l’emmerdement maximum, which even with my dodgy French I can see is a good way of putting it.
As the property markets and business starts to loosen up we can see a similar thing happening. Sterling has come under pressure for the past few days and this seems likely to get worse.
The negatives are mounting up, including the risk of an interest rate cut into negative territory at the 18th June Monetary Policy Committee meeting. This doesn’t look a good time to be keeping your savings in the bank, while overseas property is likely to be a buyer’s market for the foreseeable.
We also have the transition period extension deadline on 30th June. Even Labour Party leader Keir Starmer is now arguing that the government should attempt to make an agreement asap and NOT ask for an extension.
So, if you don’t grab the opportunity to lock in your currency via a forward contract for a property purchase in the late summer, you might well not see this rate for a while.
Do call your trader on 020 8108 5337 to discuss your options.
