Ireland's leading property site - thousands of properties, hundreds of agents

Bookmark this site
Tell a friend
Local services

Are you selling?

You can advertise a house for sale here too - for less than the cost of a single day in the paper.
Click for more info.

Currency file

Don't pay tourist rates for foreign exchange. A specialist foreign currency dealer can give you a far better rate and save you a lot of money.

Click for details

Insurance file

Holiday home and ex-pat insurance is just so much easier to arrange if the policy and claims are in your own language.

Click for details

Mortgages for overseas property
There are several options for financing the purchase of an overseas property. The most common, and by far the easiest, is to take out a mortgage on your existing home in the UK or Ireland. You would then transfer the funds to a bank account in the destination country.
The second method is to apply to a bank in the overseas country for a mortgage. There are variations in terms, maximum loan, interest rates and fees, depending on whether you are buying a development plot, a new home from a developer, a second hand home, or a second property as an investment. Further, if you intend working in Spain for example, you will be required to show proof of income.

We recommend ...

If you have the option of taking out a mortgage secured on an existing property in your home country, this is likely to be your best and cheapest option.

If you have a property in the UK, we recommend Nationwide if your credit rating is good or Regency Remortgages if it's not so good.

If you have a property in Ireland, we recommend REA Mortgage Choice.

Mortgage from an Irish Bank

A mortgage from an Irish bank will be denominated in Euros, so of course there is no exchange rate risk. A local mortgage does allow you to unlock the equity in your home in Ireland. Of course this only applies if you intend maintaining a home in Ireland.

Re-mortgages are available at very competitive rates and, provided the mortgage is secured against an Irish property, the lender will have no problem with you using it to buy an overseas property.

This is the simplest, cheapest and least risky option if you have equity in an Irish property and want to buy elsewhere in Europe as a second property.

Click here for more information and recommendations on Irish Mortgages

Mortgage from a UK Bank

Generally UK mortgages are in Pounds Sterling.

This brings an associated risk if you are dependent on an income paid in Euros (fluctuations in the pound/euro exchange rate may increase your payments).

With a UK based mortgage you can unlock equity in your home if you intend maintaining a home in the UK.

Since UK re-mortgages are often available at very competitive rates, this option has the major advantages of being a very simple transaction, with lower professional fees, and being a great deal less complicated than obtaining an overseas mortgage in a country where you don't have earnings.

Click here for more information and recommendations on UK Mortgages.

Bookmark this site

Add this site to your favourites.