Property in France

The Market: Brittany and NormandyThis has been an interesting year for France’s property market, with house price rises cooling somewhat. The Fédération Nationale de l‘Immobilier recorded a growth rate of 8.3 per cent for 2005/06, whereas 2004/05 saw a 13.6 per cent rise.But as the market now looks to be slowing down, Jean Bernard of JB French Houses believes that this may well be a good time to pick up a bargain: “With the market slowing down over last year we are seeing really good bargains coming up”. And it seems that canny Brits are beginning to cotton on to this opportunity, and are coming back to this traditional overseas homebuyers’ market in increasing numbers. Given the familiarity that most of us have with France, it’s easy to see why we’re bidding ‘bonjour’ to our closest neighbours once more. And the range of properties that British buyers are tapping into is immense. “It’s completely across the board, from renovations to middle price bracket gîtes and then sometimes quite expensive properties,” says Bernard. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given their close proximity to the UK, Brittany (capital city: Rennes) and Normandy (capital city: Rouen) are still the most popular regions amongst British homebuyers – especially when it comes to holiday homes.But that isn’t to say that we aren’t wising up to the investment opportunities that lie elsewhere. The government-backed leaseback scheme in particular is providing the British investor with the opportunity to buy into residential developments with the sole intention of letting them to locals. Being a well-established overseas property market with an estimated half-a-million British homeowners, France isn’t exactly teeming with undiscovered property hotspots, but factors such as improved transport links will always play their part in increasing the desirability of certain areas. And Jean Bernard thinks that he may have spotted the next big thing: “Now that there are more airports opening up in the south of France we think that this will be the next hotspot.”