Sterling saw swings of well over 1% over the past two weeks against the euro, so it will be interesting to see if that continues in what is shaping up to be an interesting week.
The fuel crisis that seemed to strike from nowhere meant millions of people cancelling their weekend plans. That’s the kind of thing that economies – and currency markets – don’t like.
Then again, they don’t like political uncertainty in the eurozone’s largest economy either, so the German election stalemate could weaken the euro.
This week the Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey is talking about last week’s monetary policy committee decision on unchanged interest rates and future policy at 4pm. Earlier this month his comments caused the pound to move rapidly, so do watch out.
Fortunately given the problems with petrol, Smart’s two sponsored webinars this weekend were all online. They were about how British people can still move to Spain and France under the new post-Brexit rules.
The key takeaway from the experts was that holiday home buying (and enjoying them) is entirely unaffected so long as you stay in Europe for less than half the time.
For full-time retirees in Spain and France, the effort and cost of obtaining a visa will be minimal. Certainly if you’re buying a property the extra legal processes required to live there shouldn’t add too much to the process.
What was interesting in the webinar was seeing all the inventive ways people are working out how to work within the rules. Such as, “can I use the rental income from my UK property if my pension isn’t large enough for the retirement visa?” “Can I buy a portfolio of Spanish properties under the golden visa scheme?” “Suppose I retire to France but my husband carries on working in the UK and only visits me for the 90 days in 180, can I count his income as mine?” was from one rather hopeful questioner.
“Yes, yes and possibly” were the answers, by the way. You can see the webinars here in a day or two when they’ve been uploaded.
So ahead of a busy week in which the pound could easily weaken, if you’re moving ahead with your plans to buy a property or move abroad, do talk to your trader on 020 8108 5337 and discussing locking in today’s excellent rate. GBP/EUR is still a good 6% above this time last year and 4% ahead of two years ago.
