More and more intermediaries tapping into overseas mortgage market

If brokers haven't yet considered the overseas mortgage market as a source of additional income, there may never have been a better time to do so. Despite the UK property slump, overseas mortgage providers have a healthy appetite for lending to foreign investors. Falling property prices, in some cases by up to 50 per cent, and historically low interest rates are also making it much more affordable to buy overseas property.

Perhaps this is why more and more intermediaries are realising the benefits of the overseas mortgage market as a valuable new revenue stream. Conti has signed up more than 1,600 in the last six months alone. Here are two recent examples: Paul Smulovitch, of James Antoniou, a financial planning firm based in Bounds Green, London was recently approached by a client who needed an overseas mortgage. "I'd always been aware of the overseas market, but I wasn't very sure about how to tap into it," he says.

"Besides the very different mortgage processes involved, there are all the associated legal issues, foreign exchange requirements and potential language barriers too. It helped enormously to have an expert involved as they've great knowledge of the overseas markets and are able to source the best possible deal."

Linda Murray, of Voyager Financial Services, based in the Vale of Glamorgan, has also recently been involved with overseas mortgages for the first time. "Previously, I would have been very tempted to refer overseas mortgage cases and not get involved myself at all, but that's not the case now," she says. "It's clear that confidence in the overseas property market is growing again, so the mortgage opportunities are definitely there. It's an area which can appear a bit intimidating, not least because of the associated tax issues and fluctuating exchange rates, and is a field which IFAs can keep avoiding. I won't be reluctant to get involved in this field in the future, especially as I have a number of high-net-worth clients who own property abroad."

These Conti case studies originally appeared in a Mortgage Solutions feature in August 2010.