If you’re making the move to France, it will be useful to review the latest Notaires de France report for an overview of the French property market. Here we take a look at the salient points of the developments in French property.
By the end of November 2021, the number of older property transactions over the previous twelve month period reached 1.2M. The twelve months to August 2021 saw an increase of +23% in transactions. The volume of transactions continued to increase but it seems that the transactions are reaching a phase of stabilisation after record sales in 2021. By the second quarter of 2022, the volume of transactions decreased slightly. In June the number of transactions completed over the last twelve months is estimated at 1,157,000, down from 1,176,000 at the end of March.
The pandemic changed buyer’s behaviour and France saw movement from the large metropolitan centres to the smaller municipalities. In some areas of France this has led to a property price rise, whilst it has also ‘relaunched’ the property market in some smaller towns and also, in some cases, pushed the agenda for developing the infrastructure for some of the more neglected towns.
The provinces saw an intensifying rise in prices with an increase of 8.8% between Q3 of 2020 and Q3 of 2021 and this was concentrated mainly amongst houses, with apartments not seeing quite such a marked price rise. Even in Greater Paris, the increase in house prices has led the way, with apartment prices following- a trend which has not been seen since 2016. The rise in prices of old real estate slowed in the second quarter of 2022 with an increase of 6.8% year on year.
The Notaires de France have predicted that the projection of preliminary contracts may indicate price increases for medium sized cities/towns (eg Angers, Limoges, Dijon, Saint Nazaire) whilst larger cities like Bordeaux will see prices stabilise or even start to fall as the interest in property starts to plateau. The report also noted concerns about the ‘new home’ market and the lack of new properties being built, which has been a driver for price rises amongst older properties.
Meanwhile, the prevailing economic context is making borrowing in France is harder than ever. Within a few months mortgage interest rates have almost doubled in France and the banks are enforcing stricter limits when issuing mortgages and lending terms have been tightened and are set to a maximum of 25 years.
Burke Bros Moving Group are specialised in removals to France and would be happy to speak to you about the logistics of moving your possessions to or from the continent. Our France moving experts can be contact on 01902 714555, via sales@burkebros.co.uk or a call back can be requested here.
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