Bienvenue to my first ever blog!
The French Property News team will be using this blog to discuss French property, current affairs and anything else to do with France, from the seriously serious to the seriously trivial.We're looking forward to your comments too.
As the summer draws to a close, we’ve been spending as much time as possible in France. Contrary to what many FPN readers think, I don’t spend all my time gallivanting round l’Hexagone (I wish). But I do try to cross the Channel as much as I can. This past month I’ve visited a few new property developments in the Alps and Med coast, and have spent a long weekend with friends in the magical city of Carcassonne, during which time I also visited the stunning village of Minerve (one of France’s Plus Beaux Villages and definitely to be recommended), strolled along the Canal du Midi in the sunshine at Homps, and enjoyed some fantastic seafood at Sete on the Languedoc coast. I then drove up to Charente to visit a friend, stopping on the way at Cordes sur Ciel, St Antonin Noble Val and Albi, all fantastic places to visit – or buy a property.
This was followed by a couple of days relaxing at my friend Jo’s lovely home near Confolens. When she first moved in to the house, it was barely habitable, consisting of a couple of almost derelict rooms with attached barns. She’s done a fantastic job over the past few years turning it into a spacious and characterful home – just one example of the many Brits who have devoted their time to bringing derelict French property back to life. I could happily have stayed a few weeks, but the magazine doesn’t appear by magic so it was back to Blighty.
(FPN deputy editor Georgina has been busy too, travelling to Picardy and Bordeaux – more soon about that, both in the magazine and online in this blog.)
These are strange times in the French property world. While many househunters seem to be holding back at the moment, perhaps waiting for their UK home to increase in value again or for the pound to strengthen, on the other side of the Channel many of the properties that typically appeal to UK buyers are being marketed at equally appealing prices - in fact, some are cheaper now than they would have been a year or two ago. Vendors are having to be realistic about the prices they ask for their properties, especially if they’re aiming at UK buyers. Traditionally, property prices in France have risen in line with inflation, but over recent years they have risen considerably more in some places – for example, 25% Charente-Maritime and 14.8% in Dordogne in 2004-2005 (figures from Notaires de France). Although France, with its strict lending criteria, hasn’t been affected by the credit crunch as much as the UK, there has been a slowdown in the property market. In 2005-2006, house prices rose by 14.2%, while 2007-2008 saw a smaller rise of 5.4%. In July and August, according to the FNAIM (French estate agents organisation), property prices started to drop, by 1.5%. Vendors aside, many people actually welcome this stabilisation of the market, and a return to the situation whereby property prices rise in line with inflation, keeping property affordable.
All markets have their ups and downs, and one person’s misfortune is another’s opportunity. Unfortunately, if you’re selling a property in rural France right now, the chances are you’ll have to accept a lower price than a year or two ago. If you’re buying then you’ll have the pick of the bunch. Luckily though, people rarely buy property in France purely to make a profit, rather they buy a French home as a passport to the traditional French lifestyle that appeals to so many of us Brits. And long may that continue.
A bientot,
Karen