Did you know that if you work and live abroad you can still secure a mortgage to buy a property back home in the UK? Even if you receive your salary in a foreign currency or you have complex income streams, there are lenders who will accommodate your needs with an expat mortgage. We recently arranged an expat mortgage for a UK couple living and working in Saudi Arabia who wanted to buy a permanent home in the UK. Read on to understand the complexities involved and how I secured them an expat mortgage which ticked all of their boxes.
Case profile
Our clients are two professional people, a married couple, living and working in Saudi Arabia. They were keen to buy a permanent home back in the UK but had encountered some challenges as one of the clients received their salary in foreign currency. Our clients wanted to borrow £540,000 with an LTV of 80% but a number of lenders turned them down as the exchange rates they used meant that their Saudi Riyal didn’t meet the value needed to pass affordability checks. In addition, they wanted a mortgage which was part repayment and part interest only, to keep costs down, so this automatically ruled out certain lenders.
The three challenges we had to find solutions to: the high LTV, salary in foreign currency, and a part repayment / part interest only mortgage needed. We knew it would be tricky but certainly not impossible.
Solution
Our specialist mortgage adviser approached a small building society who we have arranged expat mortgages with before and knew would be flexible and accommodating. The lender was able to use a 20% hair cut on the client’s foreign income which left them with enough to lend the 80% that the client needed, instead of using the lowest point in the past 10 years like the other lender. The lender also agreed to split the loan so that £202,500 was on repayment and the remaining £337,500 was on interest only.
The client was over the moon as we’d found solutions to all three challenges as well as securing them a mortgage which didn’t cost them the earth.
If you are overseas and looking to buy a home in the UK, call one of our specialist expat mortgage advisers on 020 7519 4900 to see how they can help.
