You agree a price of €600,000. You pay from an account held in another currency. Between the handshake and the notary there are usually eight to sixteen weeks, and during those weeks the price in your own currency moves every single day, without anyone renegotiating anything.
This is the part of a cross-border purchase that people discover late.
The size of it
The property price is fixed in the seller's currency. Your cost is not.
On a €600,000 purchase, a 5% move in the exchange rate between agreement and completion is a €30,000 swing in what you actually pay. That is larger than the notary, the registry and the legal fees put together, and it is decided by currency markets rather than by anything about the property.
A 5% move over three months is unremarkable. It is not a worst case.
Where the exposure actually sits
The risk is not spread evenly across the purchase. It concentrates at specific moments.
The reservation deposit. Small, usually paid quickly, rarely worth managing.
The exchange of contracts. Often 10% of the price. Weeks after you agreed terms.
The remaining 90%, at the notary, on a date that can move.
