If you earn and save in pounds, dollars or anything other than euros, there's a quiet variable in your purchase that has nothing to do with the property: the exchange rate. It moves constantly, and on a sum the size of a house, small moves are large amounts of money. The good news is that this is a managed risk, not a gamble you're forced to take.
In this article
Why it matters more than people expect
Imagine you agree to buy at €300,000 and complete three months later. If your home currency weakens against the euro in those three months, the same house quietly costs you more in your own money, potentially thousands more, without a single thing changing about the property. The reverse can happen too, but you don't want your budget riding on luck.
How buyers manage it
The standard tool is a currency exchange specialist rather than your high-street bank. They can usually offer better rates than a bank, and, more importantly, they can lock in a rate for a future date with what's called a forward contract. That means you fix the price in your own currency now, for a completion that's weeks or months away, and you know exactly what you'll pay regardless of what the market does.
It's worth setting this up early, around the time you're seriously bidding, so you're ready to act when a completion date is agreed.
A buyer who got the timing right
Hilary, whose farmhouse we met earlier in this step by step series, is a small masterclass in this. He moved his money into euros when the rate was favourable, transferred a bit more than the house needed to cover renovation work, and used a currency firm rather than the bank to do it. By his own account the rate later moved sharply against the pound, so getting that part right saved him a meaningful sum. He didn't predict the market, he simply removed the risk by acting deliberately rather than leaving it to chance.
You don't need to become a currency trader. You just need to treat the exchange rate as a real line in your budget and use the tools that exist to tame it.
Your checklist for this step
- Work out which currency your deposit and balance will come from
- Get quotes from a currency exchange specialist, not just your bank
- Ask about a forward contract to lock in a rate for a future completion
- Build a small buffer into your budget for currency movement
- Set this up around the time you start bidding, not at the last minute
Get money-ready
The free Spain Buying Guide covers currency, bank accounts and the financial side of buying.
Download the free Spain Buying Guide →
Or carry on reading. The next post starts the hunt in earnest: "I'm ready to start looking properly."
Written by
Nick StoreyNick Storey is the Operations Director at Kyero.com, where he leads platform operations, product delivery, and commercial strategy.
Having lived and worked in Spain for 14 years, Nick began his career as an estate agent on the south coast of Granada and brings first-hand market experience to his work.
He joined Kyero in 2007 and has since played a central role in scaling the business, shaping its product direction, and strengthening how international buyers connect with agents across Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy
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