Can you guess how much this smart four-bedroom home in the town of Orthez in France’s Pyrénées-Atlantiques costs?
Article written by The Overseas Guides Company
The truth is, for too many British people it’s impossible to say. Why? Because fluctuating exchange rates mean typical buyers from the UK don’t know until the day they make a currency transfer how many pounds they’ll need to exchange to meet the agreed euro price of their property.
The current asking price of this property, which sits on a 1,820-square-metre plot and comes with a pool and spectacular views of the Pyrenees, is €318,000 (for more details contact OGC on 0207 898 0549). But we thought we’d demonstrate how the actual price in pounds to British buyers fluctuated at various points over just three months, thanks to nothing more than exchange rate movements. The result is by a hefty £18,048 – enough to cover the cost of some refurbs if you were to buy the property!
| Date | Approx. Smart £/€ rate | Property price |
| March 6 | 1.1514 | £276,186 |
| February 27 | 1.1502 | £276,474 |
| February 8 | 1.1770 | £270,178 |
| January 4 | 1.2277 | £259,021 |
| December 6 | 1.2319 | £258,138 |
The good news is, you can eliminate the effect of fluctuating exchange rates on the cost of your overseas property purchase. Using currency exchange specialist Smart Currency Exchange to make all your currency transfers is the first step to making your pounds go further when buying abroad – thanks to their bank-beating exchange rates. Speak to Smart today though and they’ll reveal how a forward contract could help you fix the cost of your overseas home in pounds, before you have to pay for it in a foreign currency – and in the above example, a forward contract could have saved you £18,000 as well as brought peace of mind!
To understand the full step-by-step process to buying a property in France, collect The Overseas Guides Company’s ‘France Property Buying Guide’
The views and comments herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Rightmove Overseas, Rightmove Group Ltd or Rightmove Plc