I'm considering buying a property in Gdansk but have been unable to find a lender in the UK that is prepared to look at the Polish market.
I have contacted a number of banks in Poland, but they are quoting about 6% variable and say there are no fixed rate deals in Poland?
I'd also prefer a UK lender so that the mortgage could be in GBP rather than PLN, as I suspect that after 2012, the zloty will be even stronger against the £.
Has anyone had any success finding a UK lender willing to provide funds for a Polish property?
You generally won't find banks willing to lend on property which is located in another country. If a mortgagee doesn't pay, then a bank needs recourse to the legal system, and a UK bank isn't going to risk having to deal with this in Poland.
Your best bet would be a Polish bank with an office in the UK, such as PKO BP: pkobp.co.uk/index.php?id=placowki_pkobp_w_uk&=&lng=en
Thanks for the link to PKO. I'll contact them and see what they say.
As for banks lending on property in other countries - is actually quite common to find ones willing to lend in places like spain and othe EU countries - as long as it's not poland!
Has anyone had any success finding a UK lender willing to provide funds for a Polish property?
Nope, i came close with PKO but that came crashing down at the last minute, but they are your best bet.
I'd also prefer a UK lender so that the mortgage could be in GBP rather than PLN, as I suspect that after 2012, the zloty will be even stronger against the £.
If I get a mortgage in PLN and the exchange rate goes down I'll end up paying more (my salary is in GBP) - that's dangerous, and why I'm trying to get a mortgage in £s.
I assume your earnings are in £? It's dangerous to borrow in let's say pounds, Swiss franks, dollars, etc if you earn in złoty (and the other way around) as large currency fluctuation can make your "great interest rate" quickly change to very high payments due to unfavorable currency rates. For example many borrowers in Hungary took mortgages in Swiss franks and now with the current forint rate are struggling to make payments. Just be careful.
Yes my earnings are in £s which is why I'm trying to get a mortgage in £s. I know a few people that took out mortgages in swiss francs are are know having to sell up because they can't keep up the repayments.
If I had taken a morgage in PLN 3 years ago, my payments in £'s would have had to increase by nearly 50% to cover the exchange rate fluctuation when it was 4PLN to the £. £ years ago it was closer to 6PLN / £
Just had a chat with someone at PKO - good and bad news:
Yes they do mortgages in £s, Bad news - the interest rate is 7.5%!!!!
PKO BP are pretty uncompetitive anyway - they're more of a dinosaur, reliable, but expensive.
What about trying Pekao instead? They might have a presence in the UK. I also recall that mBank have some sort of mortgage operation in London, but I could be wrong?
if somebody is not able to pay mortgage installments in CHF I am sure he would not be able to pay it in PLN.
The rate of CHF increased but the interest rate is in the lowest level ever and the interest rate in CHF can be now 1,3%-1,5% if somebody took a mortgage in 2006-2008 compared to 2,5% in current offers. in PLN interest rate can be 4,8%-5,6% for mortgages taken in 2006-2008
the only problem now is balance of the mortgage in pln converted from CHF. This hold a lot of property from sells because the value of the property is smaller than mortgage in CHF and this is a problem for the next 2-3 years. from short them investment many investors will have now medium or even long terms one.
I do not agree also with a statement that is a danger now to take mortgage in Euro or CHF. It was dangerous when the CHF rate was 2-2,2 but now we have almost 3 and this is a great opportunity which should be taken.
so far there in no fixed mortgages in Poland but the current offers are very good especially in DNB but the borrower have to have very good income I would say.
some of the details you can find below: polishmortgages.eu/1,1,267,Current_mortgage_offers
Did we find a competitive GBP mortgage for a polish property?
Not worth it at the minute - the government is proposing banning loans denominated in foreign currencies due to the amount of people burnt with CHF mortgages.
But for what it's worth, it's highly unlikely that the exchange rate will ever go below 4zl/1 pound.
But for what it's worth, it's highly unlikely that the exchange rate will ever go below 4zl/1 pound.
Yeh but the exchange rate is irrelevant if he wants a GBP mortgage. If he wants a GBP mortgage but to repay in PLN (or whatever currency) then the exchange rate issue comes into play.
The Pound is incredibly weak right now and yet the exchange rate is sitting at 4.55 or so. Even when the Zloty was at its all time strongest, with a pretty weak Pound - it was still no lower than 4.1 - and that didn't last long at all.
It would take a total collapse of the Pound for the Zloty to go below 4 - and even then, any collapse of the Pound would have a knock-on effect on the Euro and thus the Zloty anyway.
Well I just looked at 5 the years chart & it seems to me that GBP is heading back to 4.30-35 (If broken 4.10 area) though I don't know why.Just a thought.
seems to me that GBP is heading back to 4.30-35 (If broken 4.10 area) though I don't know why.
"Seems" is superstition based on graphical trends, you need market knowledge for both countries to back that up. Political situations, housing markets, import/export figures etc.. IMO its going to hover between 4.4 and 4.7 over the next few months.
It is (I said I looked at the chart) but I reached this conclusion after 5 min (I am not interested in GBP/PLN rate at all but if I was I would bet on 4.35 1 year horizon).Safe bet i think.Lets see.
Well I just looked at 5 the years chart & it seems to me that GBP is heading back to 4.30-35 (If broken 4.10 area) though I don't know why.Just a thought.
For that to happen, it needs the Euro to become strong again, combined with investor confidence in the Zloty and a weak Pound.
But virtually every commentator was saying that the Zloty was nowhere near enough to sustain 4.1 - and look what happened, it collapsed to 5.25 within weeks.
For what it's worth, the PLN/GBP rate has always been very unstable.
