Strong Demand for Spanish Mortgages with UK Buyers, Despite Brexit & Covid: Mortgage Direct
- Written by: Gary Howes
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Demand for Spanish properties from UK buyers remains robust, according to a company which helps potential buyers arrange Spanish mortgages.
Mortgage Direct, an independent provider of mortgage advice to international property buyers looking to purchase in Spain, reported their strongest ever month in April.
The update by the company suggests ongoing strong demand for Spanish property, despite 2021 seeing the UK fully exit the European single market.
Brexit had raised anxieties about how demand for Spanish properties would evolve, but Mortgage Direct say they anticipate an expected surge in demand for property purchases in Spain over coming months.
"Last month we saw our highest monthly number of mortgage enquiries since the company was founded 15 years ago. This is evidence of a very strong demand for house purchases here in Spain," says Katherin Walkerdine, Founding Partner and Business Developer at Mortgage Direct.
In addition, the Covid-19 crisis has placed severe restrictions on the ability of international buyers to visit Spain with a view to purchasing property.
Walkerdine says the UK government announcement allowing foreign travel for certain activities including buying, selling or renting a residential property leads her to expect to see a surge in demand for property purchases and mortgage enquiries in Spain.
Restrictions on travel to Spain are expected to ease further over coming months as the pandemic in the EU is quashed by an ongoing rollout of vaccinations.
"There is no doubt that the pandemic has accelerated people’s dreams of owning a property in Spain. Many employers have realised that productivity hasn’t been impacted by the switch to working from home and some are now offering it as a long-term option for their staff, and it seems that staff are keen to take up the offer," says Walkerdine.
Mortgage Direct says in many instances working from home includes working from abroad too, although there are tax obligations to consider also.
"Many clients tell us they want to buy now and work from a home in Spain. This was unheard of in such numbers pre-Covid," says Walkerdine.
Interest rates in Spain remain attractive to foreign buyers, with the Euribor remaining well below zero (currently -0.483%) and mortgage rates still at an all-time low.
"There has been no better time to finance your dream home," says Walkerdine.
