BREXIT IS IT ALL DOOM AND GLOOM?
Well Brexit has come and……..gone?
Whichever way you may have voted, whether you like it or not the result is to leave the EU.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE LEAVING EUROPE!!
Almost half the population wanted to stay, just over half the population wanted to leave so hardly a landslide!! If you didn’t vote then you can’t complain now!!
So how is this going to have an impact on house-buying in Spain?
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In the short-term there is the fall in the value of sterling but we had already seen similar rates over the last couple of years, even without Brexit. Rates have always gone up and down. This is where using a good Currency House can save you money. They look for the best time to exchange and we would generally look to beat the rates from Banks by between 3-4%. During the recession years of 2008-2012, the average rate between pound /euro varied between 1.12 and 1.25 AND yes people did buy houses in Spain. Today’s rate stands at about 1.19
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Don’t forget that even with the weaker pound once you get to Spain, staying there while using your property is still cheaper than the cost of living here in the UK. Remember eating out is significantly cheaper than here. Car hire in comparison to the UK is cheaper.This will not change because we have Brexited, as there is unlikely to be one price for us and one for the rest of Europe.
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Until the UK is formally detached from the EU there will be no change in how we can move around Europe. Even when we have formally left the EU we will not be banned travel in Europe!! In future we may need “visas” or equivalent just as, for example, the ESTA when we go to the USA. This gives 90 days a year travel in America on holiday without a visa. Unless you are planning on retiring within Europe, this amount of time for most will be ample for holidaying in a second home.
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Developers and builders in Spain are not going to stop selling properties to UK residents and no they won’t be putting prices up because the UK won’t be in the EU! In some areas prices are already rising as new phases on developments are released. These prices will apply to all who purchase!
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Whether the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) survives or not only time will tell. It may be that EU countries will still want their citizens to have this benefit when visiting the UK so a reciprocal deal may continue. As a frequent traveller to Spain I still “top-up” this cover with travel insurance. After all not everything is covered by this card. For instance, repatriation costs were NEVER covered under the card anyway and such costs can be enormous – so in future it may be that a travel policy will be needed even more since the EHIC should not have been used anyway as a substitute for such insurance.
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Leaving the EU, in our opinion, shouldn’t make buying a second home in Spain any harder. Plenty of non-EU nationals have bought in Spain, among them Russians and Chinese. They haven’t come up against barriers to their purchasing a property. Indeed for Chinese buyers the Spanish introduced the “Golden Visa” – maybe they could do the same for us!
Only time will reveal the full impact of our exit from the EU, however we do know that people will continue to travel in Europe, live in Europe and buy property in Europe. Life goes on and if you want that holiday home go for it. The end of the world is not nigh because of BREXIT!!
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