Ciaran Hancock / Sunday Times

IFG, the quoted financial services group, is planning to expand its mortgage-broking business to Marbella to cash in on the explosion in property purchases by Irish investors. Irish buyers are estimated to have bought 40,000 properties in Spain over the past decade, the bounty from our economic boom.
The group will open an office in the southern Spanish city within the next couple of months and plans to offer mortgages, title insurance and administration services.

The title insurance product should prove attractive. Underwritten by First American Financial, it will offer insurance cover in the event of a dispute over legal title of properties that leads to a financial loss. All mortgages arranged through the Marbella office will be secured on Spanish properties. Many Irish people buy overseas properties by remortgaging their homes in this country.

IFG hopes to benefit from the continued house-building boom in Andalucia, where 60,000 new houses are expected to be completed in the next couple of years. The office will be run in conjunction with a local solicitor that will provide legal services.

The Dublin-based company also plans to offer home loans to UK purchasers.

IFG’s mortgage business earned profits of €1.5m in the first half of 2004 on turnover of €11.9m. It operates through 170 broker franchisees and handled about 8% of the €16 billion worth of mortgages issued in Ireland last year.