The study found 68 per cent of brokers believed they would do more business in the overseas market in the future. Of the 201 mortgage intermediaries questioned, nine out of 10 thought Europe would see the biggest impact, with Spain, France and Bulgaria the top three countries. Almost half of the brokers questioned expected to expand into Europe by 2020.
Mehrdad Yousefi, head of intermediary mortgages at A&L, commented: “The majority of intermediaries see a lot of value and opportunity in the European market. Pursuing the European and international mortgage markets will prove important for brokers who are seeing an increasing number of UK residents wanting to buy second homes in established overseas property markets such as Spain and France.
“The appearance of Bulgaria as a booming property market is interesting as I would class this as an ‘emerging’ country, compared to more established property markets. House prices remain relatively cheap for Brits and joining the European Union should make the prospects for this area even more attractive.”
“The appearance of Bulgaria as a booming property market is interesting as I would class this as an ‘emerging’ country, compared to more established property markets. House prices remain relatively cheap for Brits and joining the European Union should make the prospects for this area even more attractive.”
Simon Conn, managing director of Conti Financial Services, said: “Europe is one of the busiest markets, but it’s not just there. We’re getting requests about properties in countries like Morocco and Brazil. It’s amazing where people want to buy. But intermediaries do have to be careful. They need to be build up specialist knowledge as the rules abroad are completely different to those here.”
Andy Frankish, managing director of Mortgage Talk, added: “A lot will have to change to enter the foreign market. The processes and systems are very different and they don’t see intermediaries the way we do. But it gives intermediaries something to think about, as the UK market won’t always be so buoyant.”
