Offshore bank Skipton International has launched a new range of mortgages for British expats.
The Guernsey-based bank is offering two new fixed rates to expats.
For borrowers looking for a remortgage of £300,000 or more, the rate is fixed at 3.99% for five years.
Smaller loans between £100,000 and £300,000 come with the higher rate of 4.49% again fixed for five years.
The deals come as like-for-like or equity release.
Application fees are £999, including a valuation and legal costs.
Almost 200 mortgages available for expats
Some financial advisers claim specialist expat lenders have a different business model to onshore banks and building societies that allows them to focus on smaller markets so they can charge higher rates.
Their lending is funded from taking deposits rather than borrowing on capital markets and because they know competition in the expat market is limited, they can charge higher rates and fees than onshore lenders.
According to independent mortgage data firm Moneyfacts, expats have the choice of 191 mortgages – but many are variations from the same lenders, such as purchase or remortgage products at fixed or standard rates.
Jim Coupe, managing director at Skipton International, said: “British expats continue to look towards UK property as a good long-term investment and we aim to make the process of securing a mortgage as simple as possible, with good customer service at the heart.”
Buy to let options for expat landlords
Skipton International has made several changes to the mortgages offered to expats recently.
Besides the remortgage revamp, buy to let lending caps for expats were raised from £750,000 to £1.5 million.
Nigel Pascoe, director of lending, Skipton International, said: “Buy-to-let remains a popular long-term investment for British expats and we are delighted that our mortgage offering will be available to even more investors, who either want to buy a property or remortgage an existing one”.
The lender also revealed that since 2014, more than 1,000 mortgages worth over £200 million have been completed for expat customers from around the world.
More information about Skipton International’s mortgages for expats
Thats a good article but there are not that many new lenders coming to the market
Skipton i tried ages ago but their rental income calculation didnt get me the 75% lending i was looking for so had to take a lower lending amount but they are still a good lender.