We believe that our experience in the French real estate, our daily market reading, the feedback we get from buyers, vendors, tenants, holidaymakers, real estate agents, notaires, mortgage brokers and other stakeholders, combined with our approach towards the real estate can be useful to our visitors. Also, whether you want to take part to this section or become a partner, please contact us ( email to info@papaty.co.uk ). We will provide some valuable tips and your feedback is much appreciated.
This information cannot be used as a consulting or legal advice, and no liability shall be seek for errors and omissions.
Example: Paris 20 e arrondissement metro Telegraphe, studio flat of 12 sq.mt at the 1st floor with kitchenette, shower, toilet, asking price Euro 90,000 as advertised May 17 - 2008 part
The rents per month that we observe on the market are from Euro 350 and more around Euro 400 per month for units of that kind.
Is there a demand for such small units? Yes, there are many applicants per offer, students, young professionals, and even foreigners who prefer their private pad to the expensive hotels. Is it decent to rent out such tiny spaces? The law says it is and the Parisian way of living can match this small living space, Paris is a city where you socialise easily, it is easy to find cafes steps away, easy to move from one quarter to another, the young Parisians live hang out a lot, and often travel to their families at week-ends.
Example: Paris 6e Mabillon ( St Germain des Près ) studio flat just refurbished, 15,10 sq.mt of habitable space, equipped kitchenette, bathroom with toilet asking price of Euro 199,000 € as advertised May 19 - 2008 part
The rents per month that we observe on the market are from Euro 500 and more around Euro 600 per month for units of that kind.
Example: Paris 3e studio flat at the top floor of a period building, kitchenette, shower room with toilet, storage, with views over the roofs asking price of Euro 130,500 as advertised May 21 - 2008 prose loger
The rents per month that we observe on the market are from Euro 500 and more around Euro 600 per month for units of that kind.
Source: Chambre des Notaires de Paris - last data known - May 2008
The prices of apartments resales in Paris ( exclusive of new built status ) have risen at 9.7% over one year to February 2008 whereas they have risen at 9.4% to February 2007
April 10 - 2008 - In the UK, the cover of the main newspapers almost every other day is related to the credit-crunch or to the weakening house prices ( some speak about disaster ahead in Timesonline.co.uk ). The Independent today's headline is
' The currency crunch ' pointing out that the Sterling is still weakening against the Euro. Whereas the main lenders tighten the lending conditions making it harder to get a mortgage in the UK.
In Spain, it seems a strong crisis is happening with so many boards ' se vende ' (for sale) displayed on buildings ( Le Figaro article ), and this is not encouraging to invest in property as moreover UK buyers take fright as thousands of illegally built homes are threatened with demolition ( read the article in the Guardian ).
In the USA, ' American dream hit by dollar’s decline ', FT.com headline is explicit adding to the fall in house prices make it very uncertain destination for a good investment.
Therefore, how is France residential real estate market doing in this international mayhem?
There is no sign of crisis settling down, more a slowdown, and although a small price fall in some areas, the sought-after areas coveted by the international buyers are doing very well.
In Paris it is still an approx. 10% rise on a year scale. two factors are showing that Paris can structurally better resist than London as regard to the uncertain issues arisen by the recent economic trends:
Why investing in France, especially Paris is better than investing in the UK, in the USA or in Spain:
In Paris, the resale market is composed mainly of apartments ( unlike london, where it is common to find whole houses ). The following figures are related to the apartment resales for year 2007:
36,807 - the number of aparment resales (figure very stable, has been a similar figure since 2001)
928 - the number of apartment sales in new-built
367 - the number of building sales
Part of foreigners who bought in 2007 in Paris per district ( arrondissements ) :
Paris 1er (first district): 16,6% |
Paris 11e: 6,4% |
| Paris 2e: 9,3% | Paris 12e: 4% |
| Paris 3e: 14,8% | Paris 13e: 6,2% |
| Paris 4e: 16,5% | Paris 14e: 5,6% |
| Paris 5e: 9,9% | Paris 15e: 7,7% |
| Paris 6e: 15,4% | Paris 16e: 8,8% |
| Paris 7e: 14,5% | Paris 17e: 5,3% |
| Paris 8e: 11,8% | Paris 18e: 7,2% |
| Paris 9e: 6,3% | Paris 19e: 7,5% |
| Paris 10e: 6,1% | Paris 20e: 4,6% |
January 15 - 2008 - If you plan to finance your property in France using your British Pounds, American Dollars or any foreign currency, you should strongly consider securing a currency rate in advance as the buying process takes several months from the moment you launch the search to completion. This option is possible using a currency company.
An example of the fluctuation of a currency where the Pounds exchange rate has been affected:
"...November 14. He was tempting fate. Since then, the effective exchange rate has fallen by 6 per cent, and sterling’s decade of stability has come to an abrupt halt. ..."
read the article published by the Financial Times on January 14
the good news is that at today's date the Sterling has partially recovered
Case study:
You plan to spend £200,000 on a French property. Assuming that at the start of your search £1 buys €1.5, you can afford a €300,000 property. If the British Pounds loses 6% as it happened recently, your £200,000 budget will allow you to buy only €283,018 property! You have lost Approx. €17,000 which corresponds more or less with the statutory fees on the property ('notaries/stamp duty' s costs') or even to an equivalent of your deposit ! Whereas having secured currency exchange rate at the first stage (you can fix the rate for up to 2 years in the future) you could have avoided the risk of negative currency fluctuations.
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