Ex-Pats are Returning Home
Living abroad was once a fairly tempting proposition for anyone who had become disenchanted with modern, indeed multicultural Britain. Anyone could do it, you just had to be prepared for the consequences…
Ex-Pats coming back home
According to information published today by Britains most hate mongering of newspapers The Daily Mail: almost 4million Brits who are living abroad are apparently planning a mass exodus from the countries they currently frequent. Thanks in part to watching their savings and income stripped thanks to the plunging values of the pound and indeed the worth of their properties. In true Daily Mail style “Brits have become the Paupers of Europe”
Take for example Brits living in Spain and France. They have seen an 8 per cent drop in the prices of their house in the last financial year. This has wiped roughly €30,000 off the average price of a house on the Costa Del Sol.
- A retired couple living in Spain, both drawing from a full state pension of £95.25 per week, will have seen their combined monthly income (on their pension alone), drop by €396 over three years, from €1,263 to €867. Source Daily Mail
A large warning sign that ex-pats are to return is of course the recession in which we are currently stuck. Since the Credit Crunch begun in 2008 there has been an increase of a fifth in the number of Ex-Pats who are so jaded by the whole living in the Sun idea that they have decided to come home.
Now we all know the Daily Mail generally spouts the kind of ignorance that only a child might understand, however, the case study they use is in many ways the warning sign that many should have listened too over and over again before they decided to vacate the motherland and pitch up somewhere else. For once there was a time when a first time buyer mortgage in a place inside the EU such as either Spain, France or Ireland was fairly cheap.
Case study: Shattered dreams of a new life in Italy
Andy Ward’s dream new life in Italy with his family has been shattered. The boxes are all packed and ready to be shipped back to Norfolk and their house – in a small village in North-East Italy – is almost bare. The cartoonist left behind the grey skies of London six years ago for a better life for his Italian wife Gaia and their
six-week-old baby Francesca.
Back to Norfolk: Andy Ward and his family’s new life in Italy is over because of the weak pound But after four happy years, which saw the birth of their second daughter, Isabella, it started to go wrong. In September 2007, just after the collapse of Northern Rock, the pound started its long slide against the euro. From getting €1.5 to £1 when they moved across, the two currencies were virtually level pegging.
Andy says: ‘The recession really bit hard. Our savings started to dwindle and my income – much of which is paid in sterling – started to fall dramatically in real terms. ‘When the pound was strong, expats like us could cope with the higher taxes you get out here. But the falling pound means I have to work seven days a week.’We never wanted to leave but you just have to be practical and think again about what’s best for your family.’
A sad indication of the times? Or a sad indication of peoples willingness to go for the quick buck without realizing the potential consequences? I hope the next time there is a time of ‘plenty’ that people are less willing to vacate where they are from and instead look at putting something back into the communities that they live.
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