A mortgage at the lowest rate should not be the only consideration in the selection of funding for your French property.

The first thing that most of us do when considering mortgage finance is to review the rates offered by different lenders.

Other things being equal, we then select the lender offering us the lowest rate.

Nevertheless, the mortgage rate is far from being the most important factor in the total funding cost.

Of greater significance is the repayment period, to which you should also give your close attention.

Take for example a mortgage loan of €200,000 at a rate of 4.25% over 25 years.

That equates to repayments of €1,083 a month and total interest costs of €125,044 over 25 years.

But what would be the difference in the cost if the rate was 4.15%, or the repayment period was 24 years?

A reduction in the rate to 4.15% would reduce monthly repayments to €1,072 and total interest payments to €121,694, a gain of around €3,350.

However, if you sought instead a repayment period of 24 years the monthly cost would be €1,109, and total interest costs would reduce to €119,373, a saving of €5,571.

So a difference of one year in the repayment period gives is clearly more advantageous than a small reduction in the rate.

In addition to this saving there would also be a reduction in the cost of the compulsory life insurance policy that French lenders insist all mortgagees take out. The saving is likely to be several hundred euros over the full term of the mortgage.

Of course, the above alternatives are not either/or scenarios, but they do illustrate that as well as the need to consider the mortgage rate you also need to have regard to the repayment period, which clearly yields higher savings than small differences in the rate.

John Richardson of overseas mortgage brokers International Private Finance also makes the point that there are other factors involved in the selection of a mortgage product, making it important to carefully consider all aspects of the package on offer.

'Factors such as the ability to make overpayments, arrangement fees, the loan-to-value ratio and life assurance, as well as the term of the mortgage will affect the overall cost to you.

It is essential you choose a product based on your needs rather than necessarily obtaining the lowest rate, which may actually end up costing you more', he says.

You can read more about mortgages in France in our comprehensive Guide to French Mortgages.