Australia’s agreeable climate, laid back attitude and outdoors lifestyle make it the location of choice for thousands of UK residents looking to start a new life overseas.
While renting property is possibly the more sensible choice in cases of temporary relocation, if your move will be permanent you’re probably looking at buying a place down-under.
In recent months, the Reserve Bank of Australia has expressed concerns relating to the speed at which house prices in Australia’s most popular locations have been rising. Areas like Sydney and Melbourne are becoming increasingly unaffordable, particularly among first time buyers.
The RBA has even hinted that it could introduce additional stimulus measures in order to restrain house price gains.
However, if you’re from the UK and looking to move to Australia you could benefit from the current strength in the Pound to Australian Dollar exchange rate.
Although the Pound softened at the beginning of this week after Business Secretary Vince Cable said Sterling was overvalued, the GBP/AUD exchange rate has been generally climbing over the last month, moving from a low of 1.73 Dollars to a high of 1.87 Dollars.
The strengthening of the GBP/AUD exchange rate could really work in your favour if you’re considering buying a property in Australia.
For example, if you have £250,000 to fund your real estate investment, a rate of 1.73 Dollars would have given you AU$432,500 while a rate of 1.87 Dollars would give you AU$467,500 to play with – significantly opening up your potential property options.
On October 7th the RBA will gather to deliver its latest interest rate decision. While the central bank is expected to leave fiscal policy unaltered, the RBA could attempt to ‘talk down’ the Australian Dollar by highlighting the detrimental impact a strong local currency could have on domestic growth.
If the RBA does issue comments along these lines, the GBP/AUD exchange rate could strengthen further as the week continues.
Anyone looking into buying a property in Australia should be keeping an eye on the currency markets and may benefit from seeking the guidance of a reputable foreign currency broker.
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