It’s excellent news for anyone needing a Sterling to Euro exchange with the Pound hitting a nine month high on the single currency. Last week, we saw a slight rise from Wednesday onwards as interest rate decisions came out from the UK as well as Europe. The later scrutiny of the European summit helped to rocket the Pound up a mid-market rate of 1.19 on the single currency as investors sought an alternative to the risky Euro. If you have an upcoming Sterling to Euro transfer, now is the time to think about whether you want to fix an exchange rate whilst Sterling is experiencing this momentum.

As expected, interest rates were held once more at 0.5 percent by the Bank of England and no action was taken to further quantitative easing. It was a different story in Europe, where the European Central Bank decided to cut rates by 25 basis points to 1 percent. Although this shows an attempt to help the suffering European economy, markets seemed to take the view that this move was disappointing and not at all drastic enough given the overwhelming debt problems - meaning Sterling started to push up on the single currency.

Events at the European summit then hit the headlines as an attempt to secure changes to the EU treaty failed as the 27 member states did not agree on all the new measures – it has been widely publicised that the UK refused to go along with all of the propositions. These moves did not go as far as markets were hoping to help shore up the European economy. To add insult to injury, Standard and Poor’s rating agency then warned of a possible credit rating downgrade to fifteen of the Eurozone countries and most other ratings agencies announced their plans to review all Eurozone nations in early 2012. Needless to say, the Euro lost strength and the Pound once more took advantage.

This could change however and we could see a downturn in Sterling against the Euro if more agreements about the bailout fund and financial markets come to light (particularly if changes are announced that may be seen to be harmful to the UK financial sector’s health), so it’s very wise to stay up to date with the situation as it progresses.

Unfortunately for those wanting to invest in the US property market, Sterling has moved in the opposite direction against the US Dollar at the start of this week. Again the situation is unpredictable - at the same time as there is a chance that future agreements about action to tackle the Eurozone debt crisis could push Sterling down against the Euro, they may well help Sterling to gain on the ‘safe’ US Dollar as risk appetite increases. Feel free to give me a call if you would like me to watch the exchange rates on your behalf through this turbulent time or discuss how you can protect yourself from fluctuations.

There is also some news for anyone who already owns a property in Hungary and has an outstanding mortgage. You may have heard that due to a new piece of legislation passed by the Hungarian Government, it is now possible to pay off the outstanding mortgage amount at a preferential fixed rate of exchange in Hungarian Forint, providing the funds are available to do so - if you haven’t been contacted about this possibility and would like to find out more, please give me a call to discuss.

In summary, the situation at the moment is that the Pound has surged up on the Euro whilst remaining under pressure on the Dollar. The position against the Euro is certainly still precarious - the fact that more quantitative easing is likely to be introduced at some stage means that there is still a strong air of caution. Next week’s Bank of England minutes could prove damaging for the Pound if they reveal that there is growing support amongst the committee members to introduce more quantitative easing soon.

For further advice on how to save thousands on your property purchase compared to the bank, protect yourself from currency movements or set up regular mortgage transfers, get in touch with the dedicated Property Secrets currency specialist: Nigel Hodges of Currency Solutions on +44 (0) 207 740 0000 or by clicking HERE to leave an enquiry.