A new report released by the US Federal Housing Finance Agency has revealed that residential property prices across the USA rose in January.
The Agency stated that demand from buyers is continuing to outpace housing supply and that this led to the nationwide average property price creeping up by 0.5 per cent during the first month of the year.
Year-on-year, property prices increased in all regions on the back of the widening supply-demand imbalance, led by the South Atlantic – including Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia – with an 8.9 per cent gain.
The Pacific region (California, Oregon and Hawaii also recorded hefty annual rise at 7.4 per cent. The lowest increase was recorded in the Mid-Atlantic region – New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania – at 1.7 per cent.
With house prices in the United States continuing to rise in all regions, it is arguably more important than ever for those hoping to soon call the US ‘home’, and indeed buy a property there, to get the best exchange rate possible when it comes to changing your Pounds to Dollars.
When exchanging large lump sums, only small fluctuations in exchange rates can have a huge impact on how much money you’ll end up with.
For example, imagine you managed to sell your property in the UK three months ago and had £150,000 to exchange. At the highest point of exchange in the past three months £1 was worth US$1.463 (5th February) while at the low point it was worth just US$1.387 (1stMarch). Although this may not sound that much of a swing, on an exchange of £150,000 this equates to a difference of US$11,400!
Of course, there is no guarantee of choosing the absolute best time to exchange, taking expert advice from a specialist currency exchange firm like Halo Financial can certainly help.
Foreign exchange companies understand why the exchange rates are moving and just what impact this has on your currency transaction so can give you at least some indication of when the market could move favourably. What’s more, they can also provide you with a range of options on when you should consider exchanging, and how much you should exchange at a time.
To find out how you can make sure you can take advantage of positive fluctuations in the market and exchange your currency at the right time to get the best possible deal on the purchase your overseas property, visit www.halofinancial.com
Article by David Fuller