The south of France is a hugely desirable location for a holiday home, and we are always delighted to be able to assist our clients with a purchase in this region. I recently helped two clients—one British, the other Australian—to secure a mortgage on a property in a charming fortified town in this area.
The property in question was a traditional country property valued at €565,000. My clients both had good incomes; one had spent his career as an international wealth manager, and was now self-employed in this field. The other worked for an international bank. However, their personal background was preventing them from being able to arrange a large mortgage.
It’s very difficult to secure finance for Australian nationals. As an additional complication, the British client had been resident in Hong Kong for many years; this creates challenges from a tax perspective. A British passport is usually fairly helpful in terms of opening doors with lenders, but his Hong Kong residency was a sticking point. On this basis, my clients’ dossier had already been turned down by another lender.
OUR SOLUTION
Fortunately, I knew of a good local lender I thought would be appropriate for this case.
This lender was suitable because they are one of the oldest in France, and have offices in the region—they therefore know the area very well. They are also accustomed to non-EU residents looking to purchase a holiday home in the region. This history of providing loans to non-French nationals looking to live locally was advantageous to my clients. This bank’s priority is not to establish itself as a leading wealth manager, so they are able to offer much lower assets under management (AUM) requirements as a result.
I was able to negotiate for a fixed rate of just 1.5% on a capital repayment basis, for a term of 15 years. This was offered with AUM of just €150,000, which was an excellent result in light of my clients’ backgrounds. Learn more about French mortgages.
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