Despite the fact that the UK economy has grown 0.5% in the first three months of this year, the slumping sterling and rising mortgage prices abroad, for example in a BVI Company, are forcing British expats to sell up and move back home.
Thousands of Brits own a British Virgin Island Company or a second home in a sunny destination overseas but many of them are packing up and selling their properties to move back to the UK because the European interest rate has increased.
It is reported more than 300,000 Brits have a second-home with a euro-denominated mortgage. For the first time since July 2008, the European interest rate has risen which has caused the value of the sterling against the Euro to fall and mortgage rates to surge. The Euro itself though has strengthened.
What it means for an Offshore company registration is that if you changed £100 last week you would get back €112 compared to last month of €115 and in January, €119. It is because of this weakening of the pound that many expats are sending back large sums of money to the UK. Many are selling their second properties and coming home and if they do not do so soon, they are in for worse times as the European Central Bank (ECB) are predicted to increase the rates again in September.
For sun seekers and pensioners living abroad in Spain however, it proves bad news since the property crash.