According to what has been reported by “Rightmove”, the United Kingdom’s biggest property portal, London’s property market has registered increases in various areas, from the point of view of prices, domand, the number of transactions completed; in addition, it provides the exact breakdown of buyer “type”. We see into the specific estimate of the increases recorded in the month of December 2019, compared to the same period of the previous year: a) Regarding the price of properties, they have recorded an increase equal to 2.3%; b) Property demand has registered an increase of 15% ; c) the number of closed transactions has risen by 7.4%.

As regards buyer breakdown, there are bigger increases in the following categories: 1) buying for investment or a second property +1.9%; 2) luxury properties +3.9%. From this overview, we can deduce that after the uncertainty linked to the catastrophic and speculative apocalyptic scenes projected in case of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union with No Deal, as the Boris Johnson-led government reconfirmed that such scenarios are not plausible nor realistic and has prompted investors to carry out property purchases in the English capital.

Such investments are also supported by a relatively low price GBP sterling on the market, even if it is a drastic increase compared to the same period of the previous year compared to all the other main currencies. In fact, an investor in the decision making process takes into consideration all the risk factors linked to investing in the same; one of this is the exchange rate. Let’s say, for example, that you want to buy a property that must be paid within a few months, the bigger risk could be an increase in sterling purchasing power compared to the currency that you majorly own in your financial portfolio.

To mitigate this risk, through a specialised company, we offer our clients the purchase of the entire sterling value of the investment, fixing the exchange rate with only 10% of the total value that will be purchased. The exchange rate will be fixed for 18 months from the moment it is signed. Before being signed, the relative indications relating to the exchange rate will be presented, as well as trend forecasts, taking into account a bigger quantitative error margin. We will later discuss the sterling and more specifically the GBP/EURO exchange rate trends, when the final trend data for 2019 with equal values for 2020 will be provided.