Owning property across multiple countries can be both a powerful wealth-building strategy and a complex financial challenge. Whether you’re a British expat building a UK portfolio from abroad, a foreign investor diversifying into the UK market, or a high-net-worth individual managing assets across Europe, North America, and beyond, 2025 presents both new opportunities and new lending realities.

At Willow Private Finance, we work with clients whose property strategies cross borders, time zones, and lending jurisdictions. The goal is not simply to secure funding for each individual property, but to build a structure that maximises leverage, minimises cost, and works seamlessly across currencies and legal systems.

Understanding the Landscape

Global property finance is not uniform. Lending rules, tax treatment, and investor requirements vary by country — and often by lender within that country. For example, in the UK, portfolio landlords can access specialist products through lenders who understand rental yield, leverage, and company structures. In France, by contrast, lending is generally more conservative, with longer fixed rates but stricter income stress testing.

Clients who have read our recent piece on Navigating French Property Finance as a Brit will already know how these national differences can shape borrowing strategy. When you layer in currency considerations, portfolio leverage rules, and lender appetite for overseas income, the complexity multiplies.

Why 2025 Is a Pivotal Year

Several forces are making 2025 a year of recalibration for cross-border investors:

• Interest rate divergence – While UK base rates are expected to fall later in the year, the European Central Bank may hold or reduce more slowly, influencing cross-currency borrowing costs.

• Regulatory changes – Updated stress-testing rules in some jurisdictions, particularly for foreign income, can restrict borrowing power.

• Tax reforms – Adjustments to property ownership and inheritance rules in both the UK and France mean that portfolio structuring is now as important as the mortgage terms themselves.

In our Expat Mortgages UK guide, we explored how lender appetite for overseas income verification has changed. This directly impacts how cross-border portfolios are financed in 2025.

Structuring a Cross-Border Portfolio Mortgage

There are generally three approaches:

• Individual Local Mortgages – Each property is financed in its country of location, often in the local currency. This can be cost-effective but increases administrative complexity.

• Centralised Facility – One larger facility, sometimes from a private bank, secured against multiple properties across jurisdictions. This can simplify cash flow but requires lenders who understand and accept multi-country risk.

• Hybrid Approach – Local mortgages for certain properties, combined with a global facility for others, balancing cost, currency risk, and lender appetite.

A recent client case illustrates the third approach. A British investor with properties in London, Paris, and Geneva used local French financing for the Paris property to benefit from a 20-year fixed rate, while securing a multi-property UK facility for the London and Geneva holdings through a private lender. This avoided currency mismatch while still leveraging the UK’s more flexible refinancing market.

The Currency Factor

Currency exposure can be both an opportunity and a risk. Borrowing in the same currency as the property’s rental income can act as a natural hedge. Conversely, strategic currency borrowing can be used to benefit from favourable exchange rates — provided you have the risk appetite and buffer to absorb volatility.

Our recent blog on Currency Risk and Income Verification goes deeper into how this impacts mortgage planning for expats and international investors.

Lender Appetite in 2025

In the UK, specialist lenders and private banks remain active in the cross-border space, particularly for clients with demonstrable asset bases and clean tax positions. In continental Europe, private banks are increasingly open to cross-border deals if the portfolio includes prime properties in liquid markets.

Where mainstream lenders might shy away from multi-jurisdiction portfolios, niche lenders can often be more flexible — but will expect a well-structured application backed by strong financials. That’s where our role at Willow becomes critical: positioning your case to match the right lender’s risk appetite.

How Willow Private Finance Can Help

We understand that cross-border portfolio financing is about more than just rates and LTV. Our team regularly works with clients to:

• Identify lenders with proven experience in multi-country portfolios.
• Structure borrowing to balance currency exposure and cash flow.
• Integrate tax planning with mortgage structuring, often in coordination with accountants and legal advisers.
• Negotiate bespoke terms from private banks and specialist lenders.

Because we are independent and FCA-regulated, our recommendations are drawn from the whole of the market — not a limited panel. Whether your portfolio is worth £1 million or £100 million+, we have the relationships and expertise to make financing efficient, compliant, and strategically advantageous.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are cross-border portfolio mortgages in 2025?
These are financing structures that allow a borrower to use a combination of UK and overseas properties as collateral (or coordinate multiple mortgages) under a unified or semi-coordinated facility, enabling leverage across jurisdictions.

What structuring approaches are commonly used?

• Individual Local Mortgages: each property is financed in its home country/currency.
• Centralised Facility: a single facility (often from a private bank) secured against properties in multiple jurisdictions.
• Hybrid Approach: mix of local financing plus a global facility for part of the portfolio to balance cost, currency exposure and lender appetite.

How does currency risk influence such portfolios?
Borrowing in the same currency as rental income offers a natural hedge. Alternatively, strategic currency borrowing can exploit favourable exchange rate, but volatility is a major risk and lenders may require hedging strategies.

Which lenders are interested in cross-border portfolio lending?
Specialist lenders and private banks are most active. Mainstream lenders often shy away from multi-jurisdiction risk unless the client has strong credentials and the portfolio includes prime properties.

What documentation and credit criteria must borrowers satisfy?
Lenders demand robust financials, clean tax history, transparent ownership structures, audited accounts, evidence of rental incomes, and proof of ability to manage cross-border loans. Portfolio strength, collateral quality, and risk mitigation are key.

How should investors prepare for applying for cross-border portfolio mortgages?
They should:

• Assemble consolidated yet jurisdiction-aware financial statements
• Work with tax and legal advisers for cross-border compliance
• Normalize rental streams and structure debt servicing currencies
• Identify lenders with cross-border experience and tailor the application to their risk criteria
  

What are the main risks in cross-border portfolio financing?
Risks include currency volatility, differential regulatory and tax regimes, enforcement challenges in foreign jurisdictions, and possible valuation or covenant stress across markets.

📞 Want Help Navigating Today’s Market?

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We’ll help you find the smartest way forward—whatever rates do next.