Sterling starts this week nearly a cent higher against the euro compared to this time last week, but unchanged against the US dollar.
There’s little on the data front to move the market this week so it continues to be all about the vaccines programme, any updates on their efficacy against the new variants, good or bad, and the likely speed of the economic recovery.
Everyone has their own ideas of when this will come to an end, and I tend to be on the optimistic side as regards this late spring and summer, but rather than guess about vaccine passports and when travel might resume in earnest, let me focus on what I do know.
Firstly, that we are sponsoring a brand new Your Overseas Home Virtual on Saturday 13th March. We held the last in November and it was not only incredibly useful for our clients buying property abroad, but rather fun too.
It’s a property show held entirely online, but with all the features of a regular international property show – a central hall packed with properties, booths to chat one-to-one with estate agents , lawyers etc, and webinars tackling the various aspects of moving or buying abroad.
Definitely it’s the place to come to learn about new procedures after Brexit, as well as news from local lawyers in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the USA and Cyprus on how they can sell property during a pandemic. For example in Spain you can make an offer on a property and lock in the price, but subject to seeing it in person when you can fly. It will be interesting to learn where property prices are heading in our favourite buying areas now as well.
You can register for a free pass to the event here.
Secondly, the quarterly forecasts we published last month are already shaping up to be wildly inaccurate. I’m not bothered about that at all. These are not our predictions – I believe that any prediction is just educated guesswork – but those of major banks around the world.
We simply present them to you as the way the City – and other financial hubs – are thinking. The majority were far too pessimistic about GBP/EUR in the first month. Download the forecast and see what I mean.
Will they be wrong over the rest of the quarter though? Some place GBP/EUR as low as €1.06 within 7 weeks. How would you feel about the cost of a €200,000 property you’re committed to rising in price by £14,000 by the time you come to pay for it? You can avoid by locking in your rate.
So, do give your trader a call on 020 8108 5337 to discuss your own plans. They can suggest how to plan your currency requirements for another uncertain year on the overseas travel front.
