Search for an international mortgage and you get two different products presented as one. Every lender that ranks for the term lends on UK property to Britons living abroad — not on foreign property to people living in Britain. Opposite directions, and applying to the wrong one wastes weeks.
This page sorts them out. If you want the four ways to finance an overseas purchase rather than the list of lenders, start with can you get a mortgage on a property abroad.
The quick answers
- Two products share one name. An “expat mortgage” is usually a UK loan for a Briton living overseas. An “overseas mortgage” is finance for a property in another country.
- No UK lender in these search results finances property in Spain or Portugal. Checked against their own pages in August 2026 — every one of them lends on UK property.
- HSBC Expat does not lend abroad either. It refers you — and only where HSBC already offers personal banking, which excludes Spain.
- The exception is the UAE, where HSBC’s local arm does lend to non-residents at up to 60%.
- The route that completes is a bank in the destination country — every British buyer who finished a purchase in Spain through Upscore used a Spanish bank.
Which lenders actually lend on a property in another country?
The honest answer is none of them, for Spain or Portugal. We checked each lender’s own pages in August 2026, and every one of them secures its lending on UK property. What matters is where the property is, not where the borrower is.
| Lender | Lends on | What its own page says, verbatim |
|---|---|---|
| Barclays International Banking | UK property | Its page is headed “UK mortgages for international citizens” and states it has “been helping clients buy property in the UK for over 20 years” |
| Santander International | UK property | “Property location: England and Wales.” One investment product, minimum loan £500,000. This is the Jersey and Isle of Man entity — not Banco Santander in Spain |
| HSBC Expat | Refers, does not lend | “We’ll refer you to a mortgage specialist in the country / region you’re purchasing a property in, as long as we already offer HSBC personal banking there” |
| Skipton International | UK property — buy-to-let for expats | Its expat page is UK buy-to-let, including Guernsey and Jersey residents |
| Suffolk Building Society | UK property | Expat product for Britons overseas buying or remortgaging in the UK |
| Family Building Society | UK property | Same shape: expat borrower, UK security |
| NatWest International | UK property, offshore arm | Minimum borrowing £25,000, terms 3-35 years, minimum property 30 square metres |
Checked August 2026 against each lender’s own pages. These change; the lenders are the authority.
Every row says UK property. If you live in Britain and want to buy in Spain, none of these is an option — not because they would decline you, but because their product is not for that. That is not a gap in the list; it is the finding.
“Just did the same exact thing but in the US just 10 years with pretty much a nonexistent credit presence in the UK. We were approved for the BTL, and that was the only expat mortgage we could get. Look at John Charcoal for a mortgage broker – we had great luck with them.”
— r/Mortgageadviceuk, Mortgage from overseas, banks & credit cards
That is the confusion in one comment. The poster is an American-based expat buying in the UK, the buy-to-let was the only product available, and the thread is titled “mortgage from overseas”. Search for an international mortgage and this is the answer you find — even when your property is in Spain. For what the UK side does and does not cover, see our guide to UK banks and overseas mortgages; the UK buyer’s guide to a Spanish mortgage covers the Spanish side.
What HSBC Expat actually offers
HSBC Expat is the one name that comes up for overseas property, so be precise about what it does. It does not lend on a property abroad. It introduces you to an HSBC team in that country — with a condition:
“We’ll refer you to a mortgage specialist in the country / region you’re purchasing a property in, as long as we already offer HSBC personal banking there.“
For direct support it names three markets: the UK, the US and Australia.
Spain is not among them, and HSBC says why in its own words. From HSBC’s Spanish site: “Unfortunately, HSBC in Spain does not offer personal banking services and cannot provide assistance to personal banking customers from any other overseas HSBC entities.” HSBC in Spain and Portugal is corporate and institutional only, so the referral cannot reach the two largest European markets for British buyers.
You also have to be a customer first: “You’ll need to open an Expat Bank Account to benefit from our international mortgage services.”
One correction, because the figure circulates widely. HSBC’s guide says “Outside your home country, you can expect minimum deposits from 15% to 50%” — that is HSBC describing the overseas market in an editorial guide, not its own criteria. Quoting it as “HSBC requires 15-50%” is a misreading, and we made it ourselves before checking.
The exception: the UAE
Where HSBC does have a local retail arm, it lends — and the UAE is the clearest case for a British buyer. HSBC UAE publishes an actual product for non-residents:
“Buy a property in the UAE as a non resident. Invest in the UAE with our competitive rate home loans, even if you don’t live there now.”
“Low down payment. Borrow up to 60% of your property’s value, so your savings could go further.”
The conditions are published too: you must be an HSBC Private Bank or Premier customer or eligible to become one, the valuation costs a standard AED 2,625 including VAT, and “in most cases, it should take up to 14 working days to arrange your home loan.”
That is what a real international mortgage looks like: a named product, a published loan-to-value, a stated timeline. Compare it with the silence on Spain.
The pattern is simple once you see it. These banks lend where they have a retail arm that can value and repossess the property. Where they do not, the product does not exist — no matter how the search results are worded.
What is the difference between an expat mortgage and an overseas mortgage?
An expat mortgage is a UK loan for someone who has left the UK. An overseas mortgage is a loan for a property that is not in the UK. The borrower moves in one, the property in the other, and the underwriting is nothing alike. The UK government’s guidance on buying property abroad is the starting point.
What do international lenders require?
Wealth, not income — and none of them publishes a minimum income. What they publish is a balance. HSBC Expat wants £75,000 in investments or savings, or Premier status plus £10,000. Barclays International Banking wants £100,000 across your accounts with them, and charges £40 a month if the average falls below it for four consecutive months. Santander International starts at a £500,000 minimum loan. The “£75,000 minimum income” that circulates in broker guides is on none of their pages.
The relationship comes first too: HSBC requires the Expat Bank Account before the mortgage service, and HSBC UAE opens an account for the repayments. These are products sold to existing customers.
For a local bank the file is different — payslips, tax returns, statements and often a credit report from where you live. See how credit scores work in Spain for what that report is read for, and the cost calculator for the cash on top. Confirm what any firm is authorised to do on the FCA register before sharing financial information.
Do international lenders offer better rates than a local bank?
For Spain and Portugal the question is moot, because they do not lend there. Where an international lender does exist — HSBC in the UAE — it prices a specialist product for a small book, while a local bank prices in its home market against a property it can value and enforce against. On rate alone the local bank is normally cheaper. The Bank of Spain’s lending statistics are a better guide to what a euro mortgage should cost than any single quote.
Barclays states the currency risk itself: “where the mortgage is denominated in a currency other than your home currency, changes in the exchange rate may increase the equivalent value of the debt.”
Which route actually completes?
Across the 2,045 British buyers in the Upscore pipeline, every completed purchase in Spain was financed by a Spanish bank — Sabadell in eight cases, CaixaBank in four, UCI in one. None went through a British international lender.
Thirteen completions indicates direction rather than a precise share, with a caveat: Upscore works with local banks, so our dataset is shaped by that. Of the files reaching us none close with a UK lender — which is not the same as UK lenders never closing.
One more pattern. British buyers who have identified a specific property complete at 3.68%, against 0.29% for those still weighing options (n=163 and n=346) — nearly thirteen times.
Frequently asked questions
Do any UK banks offer international mortgages?
Not for property in Spain or Portugal. Every lender that ranks for the term — Barclays International Banking, Santander International, Skipton, Suffolk, Family Building Society, NatWest International — secures its lending on UK property. HSBC Expat refers rather than lends, and only where HSBC has personal banking.
Which markets can HSBC actually help with?
It names the UK, US and Australia for direct support. HSBC UAE lends to non-residents on UAE property at up to 60% of value, for Premier and Private Bank customers.
How much deposit do international lenders need?
For the UAE, HSBC publishes up to 60% of value, so 40% down. For Spain and Portugal the question does not arise with these lenders, because they do not lend there — a local bank generally lends 60 to 70%, with purchase taxes on top that cannot be borrowed.
Is an international mortgage regulated in the UK?
Not always in the same way as a UK residential mortgage. Check the firm and its specific permission on the FCA register before you commit.
Can I get an international mortgage on a property in Spain?
Sometimes, if you meet an international lender’s criteria and Spain is on its list. More often the finance comes from a Spanish bank, which is what our own completed purchases show.
Why do so many results talk about UK buy-to-let?
Because “expat mortgage” describes the borrower, not the property, and the largest market for it is Britons living abroad buying to let in the UK. Those lenders rank for the term and do not lend on foreign property at all.
Is a broker worth it for an overseas purchase?
For a lender in the destination country, usually yes, because the shortlist and the document requirements are not published anywhere.
The bottom line
“International mortgage” covers two products pointing in opposite directions, and the search results do not separate them. Check whether a lender means a UK property or a foreign one before anything else — and for Spain and Portugal, the answer from every lender in these results is UK.
Every British buyer who completed a purchase in Spain through Upscore used a Spanish bank.
Once you have a specific property in mind, Upscore’s Finance Passport shows which banks will approve your profile. It is free and takes under fifteen minutes.
