Unfortunately we have agreed to buy a property in Tersefanou and we were advised to finance this by way of taking out a Swiss Franc Mortgage by our developer and our bank in Cyprus. Taking this option now looks to be an error of jugement on our part. Exchange rates have had such a severe effect on our payments that any idea we may have had of a good investment has been shattered. Has anybody in a similar situation any suggestions please. As with many people buying in Cyprus we are not getting any support from our lawyer

Hi Graham and welcome to the forum,

I've sent you an email with someone who may be able to help. Unfortunately a lot of people have been caught out with the poor exchange rate in recent times.

Regards,

Hi Graham,

I too have signed up to a Swiss Franc mortgage though payments aren't due to start for another few months.

I was told various figures when arranging the mortgage (approximately 300 euros per month I think), but have no idea how the exchange rate fluctuations in the last 18 months will have affected those. When you talk about the rates having a severe effect on your payments, what kind of scale are you talking about? I haven't yet done anything about this and don't know whether I should be concerned or not.

Thanks,

Ben

Hi Ben

The difference will depend on what you were expecting to pay based on how long ago you last looked at the rates

You mention a figure in euros - was that the euro equivalent of the Swiss Franc repayment? If you're based in the UK and paid in £'s then it's the exchange rate with sterling that will matter. The repayment will be fixed in Swiss Francs - but it's the amount it will cost you to buy those Swiss Francs that will vary and that depends what currency you use.

We also took out a Swiss Franc mortgage - at the start of 2007 when you got 2.39 Swiss Francs to the pound, a year later in was 2.19 / £ and then it just got worse (up and down a bit but mostly down) it's currently 1.65 / £ and given that we're paid in £'s this has increased our repayment ( and debt!) by 45%

I.e a Swiss Franc mortgage with a repayment of the equivalent of £1000 in Jan 2007, would have cost £1330 in Jan 2008 and about £1450 currently

We've still got a few months to go before repayments start and I suppose there's a chance things will improve but I've been keeping an eye of the rates for the last year without a glimmer of hope

If your income is in euros then things aren't so bad, the Swiss Franc is a little stronger against the euro than it was in 2007 / 2008 ( 1.48 / euro now against 1.61/ euro in 2007) so the repayments will have gone up a bit - by about 8%

Hope that helps ( and doesn't depress you too much)
Julie

Hi all,
I have just joined this forum and wanted to know if anybody had a good person to contact to discuss the possibility of changing the currency of my mortgage to either a Euro or Sterling. I took out a swiss francs mortgage when it was a good thing to do but no longer is the case.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

Sitarist

Hi Sitarist

I have sent yo an email.

Regards,

Hi Nigel,


I have just joined and noticed that you sent an e mail to some of the people on the forum regarding assistance with their mortgage.

I wonder if you could share the same information with myself.

We're in a right pickle with our property due to complete in the new year and any help you could point me in the direction of would be most appreciated.

Thanks and kind regards..

Hi James,

I'll send you an email with the name of the company and contact details.

Regards,

	For the latest news on what's happening in the Cyprus property market, collect your FREE subscription to the Cyprus Property News Magazine