Friday, August 22, 2014

French property market reviving?

Despite the many problems associated with the French economy (unemployment, reduced manufacturing output, out-of-control public spending etc) there are nonetheless encouraging signs of an improvement in the property market.

According to figures released by Notaires de France, which record actual sales completed, there were 740 000 property transactions in the 12 months to end of March 2014, a year-on-year increase of 12 per cent.

Overall prices of both houses and apartments dropped by just over 1 per cent, but there were significant rises in some specific areas, showing once again that the French property market is highly fragmented and cannot be judged as a whole.

In the case of houses, highest price rises were recorded in Nimes (12.3%), Nantes (6.8%), Marseilles/Aix-en-Provence (5.5%) and Montpellier (4.5%); and for apartments - Bordeaux (12.2%), Metz (8.3%), Tours (6.4%) and Nancy (3.8%).

With the pound sterling remaining strong against the Euro, now is a good time to buy French property.