UK mortgage for Irish property?

TemujinKhan

Hi Guys,

As the UK seems to have a lot more mortgage products available, such as 2% for first two years and 4% fixed rates after that, it sounds much better than what we are being offered in Ireland.

I was wondering if anyone knew if this was possible to get a UK mortgage for an Irish property for an Irish resident.

I work in the UK and have been paying UK tax for the past 18months, but living in Ireland. 2 weeks there, 2 weeks at home.

Any advice appreciated,

Regards,
Kev.

marathonic

I don't think the UK banks can take security over an Irish property. For that reason, it can't be done.

The only time I've heard of people getting UK mortgages for Irish property is where they already owned a UK property and the mortgage could be secured against that - and, even then, the total borrowings are rarely allowed to exceed 80% of the value of the UK property alone.

Henry Ford III

Not a hope.

miezekatze

I think they would need some kind of security in the UK. I looked into getting a mortgage in Germany a while ago as the interest rates there are lower and I have a bank account and family over there, but it would only have been possible if I'd got someone in as guarantor.

Jim2007

When it comes to mortgages banks tend to stick to their own markets for the simple reason that they have no expertise in other markets and it is expensive to build up, espically if you are not going to do a fair bit of business.

TemujinKhan

Thanks for all the replies.

I got some professional advice, and it is as 'marathonic' said:

The only time I've heard of people getting UK mortgages for Irish property is where they already owned a UK property and the mortgage could be secured against that

It was worth a try though right?

So my current plan is to go with a 2 year fixed mortgage at interest rate of 4.45% with AIB (alternative variable rate is TSB with 4.45%). But as the ECB and Euribor rates are so low aprox 0.25%, IMO the variable will only go up. I know it is not set to go up by much over the next 3-4 years, but if it goes up at all the fixed is the best option (it also gives me consistency as this is my first mortgage).

Then once the two years are up, hopefully there will be more products and lenders available.

Can someone please critique me on this, as any IFA that I have gone to was not able to hold a conversation on the ECB...

Regards,
Kev.

marathonic

An IFA will not want to advise based on predicted ECB rate movements because no one can predict them. Take the UK for example, people were advising to fix mortgage interest rates for a number of years and, during this time, 5-year fixed rates consistently dropped until they reached levels below 3% last year.