Could endowment policy cash help people's US property dreams come true?
Publication date | 16/07/2010
A popular destination for Britons seeking to buy homes abroad is the US.
However, doing so is not cheap and consumers may benefit from
surrendering endowment policies to provide them with additional money.
According to Terry Hobbs, media manager of PropertyShowrooms.com, gains in the strength of sterling against the dollar have resulted in a rise in interest for holiday home-seekers.
Chris Radford, chief executive officer of aap, the UK's biggest buyer of endowment policies, said some of its customers who wanted to achieve their foreign property dreams had decided to sell their underperforming endowment policies to give them more money.
Do you fancy owning a home across the pond?Mr Hobbs suggested that the pound has gained around 5.4 per cent compared with the dollar over the last few weeks.
This has led to a 12 per cent increase in searches for US property conducted by consumers in the UK keen to own a residence over the Atlantic, he added.
He remarked: "If you were looking at that on a purchase of around $200,000 (£130,000), then you would be looking at a saving of nearly $16,000."
However, funding such a buy is not cheap and consumers may benefit from using money gained by surrendering endowment policies to provide additional finance.
Ms Hobbs made her comments after research released by Primelocation revealed a third of all people considering buying property in other countries are looking to emigrate permanently.
Meanwhile, 12.4 per cent were looking for an investment property to boost their finances long-term.
Could selling endowments help cover cost of US homes?Mr Radford, from aap, said some of its customers who wanted to buy a home in the US had decided to
sell an endowment policy to raise additional cash.
He added that should aap make an offer to purchase an
endowment policy, it will always pay more than the surrender value offered by the insurance company.
Reasons to sell your
endowment policy