French Mortgage

So you’d like to obtain a mortgage to help buy your French property? That seems reasonable, especially as rates are so low. You might have heard that the lenders have tightened up their criteria since the 2010 banking crisis. It’s true they have, though things are more reasonable now. I’ve put together a little checklist on the mortgages available as of April 2015.

Mortgage types.

• Repayment (most common)
• Interest Only (rare and fairly short term, so no more than about 14 yrs)
• A 50/50 combination of Interest Only and Repayment (new to the market!)
• Mortgages periods up to 25 years and LTV (Loan to Value) 85%

Interest rates. 2.5 to 3.6%

• 2.6-3.6% fixed
• 2.5-3% variable
• 2.65% interest only​

Other Mortgage requirements

You are tax resident in one of the following countries.

• UK
• Belgium
• Netherlands
• Belgium
• Italy
• Ireland
• Switzerland
• Norway
• Germany
• France
• You have an “expatriate / international” contract for an international company.
• You work on a Superyacht.

Are you mortgageable? Points in your favour.

• The property is residential (ie non-commercial).
• The property is habitable.
• If you are moving to France will you earning situation remain the same?
• Do you have a regular salaried income, on a permanent contract and are out of any trial period?
• If you are self employed or are a owner/director, do you have at least 3 years of accounts?
• Do you have cash that will cover the 15% deposit and the Notaires Fees and Stamp duty (so about 8%), so total cash of 23% of the purchase price.
• Is the mortgage for more than 50,000€

Points that counts against you.

Don’t despair, these don’t always make the process impossible. Just harder!

• Renovation properties.
• Businesses and small hotels (catered chalets).

So f you are after a mortgage and you think you will qualify drop us a line here.