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Aland
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Hi

the slowdown in properties is turning into a global scenario.

See the recent Economist report and trawl through this site : http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk

And the impact on 2nd homes in France will closely follow movements in UK, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, etc.

There was a similar situation about 13 years ago.

Peter

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Well.  I was looking at our local Notaires property guide the other day and the prices are rising.  Encore and encore.

I don't know who are buying but empty houses around here don't stop empty long.

Mind, it is still relatively cheap in Brittany compared to further South.

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Mind, it is still relatively cheap in Brittany compared to further South.

Hang on Alexis, it would take a fair drive down to the Côte d'Azur (or pop around the corner to Paris perhaps) to top many of the property prices in the Dinard area. The price of a simple small terraced house facing the sea, in one of the many beautiful little villages, can make ones eyes pop out

It is more a global thing when prices drop. British sellers in a time of "bust" in the UK may well be forced to sell their French holiday home cheaply (there have been 2 occasions like that in our time here) but that, in itself, would not generally affect French house sales and their prices.

Concerning the increase in some regions compered to a decline in others, it is just a normal levelling out. The Dordogne for instance went barmy for a few years, now the prices are dropping in some areas. Carcassonne prices are now going upwards, it is a natural reaction but in the end it will always be the popular places, which have work availability for people, or at least, a better chance of work for them anyway.

Many of the cheapest places in France are of course, the areas where work is extremely difficult to find and to be honest, it can also be in areas where there is a not an awful lot of places around, to make it interesting enough for many people to want to move there.

 

 

 

 

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Quite right Miki.  Forgot about the coast!  Just dwelling on my little corner.

They say that Vannes and it's environs are dearer than Paris.  Thing is, there wasn't that much difference between Vannes and where I bought, when I bought......gnash gnash!

I would like one of those villa's overlooking the sea at Dinard.......

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No slowdown here or drop in prices (NW29 coastal). In fact the other day, a local french immobilier was trawling our village in search or land and properties for sale and asked if we were thinking of selling - I should******o! Parisiennes are buying up everything here for retirement/holidays and the english who drag their heels regarding finance etc lose out. Properties that have a for sale sign up one day seem to be gone the next week unless they are real eyesores or problems with inheritence.
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I would like one of those villa's overlooking the sea at Dinard.......

Who wouldn't Alexis ! Maybe we could sell all your places, sell ours and the cars and, between us maybe we can get one "hovel" with a lovely sea view  !!

In Dinard this summer we were having a nice cuppa on the seafront, you know, the place next to the casino and has all the blue and white striped stuff, rather Deauville'esque, when on the next table to us we heard a couple speaking with rather a grand Scottish brogue. We were among the stars once again in Dinard, this time it was Ian and Jeanette or better known to you commoners as The Krankies. Oh what a life we lead up here

Agree with Val & Alexis, the Brittany prices are still on the march, around here as well.

Oooh it's gone a bit weird on 'ere hasn't it. Val posted before me and my post is before hers, must be all the c o c o a.

Come on James, pay the server quick, before the damned thing overloads and blows up  !! 

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My FIL had a pavillion at Granville which they used for the summer holidays when Gillou was a boy.  July to October they had off then.

One day in the Autumn FIL happened to visit and to his horror, found the cave full of water.  Sold it the next summer when it had dried out......

Damn!

Still.  He has got property all over.  Must have been one of the original property speculators.  Bless him....

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Well, it works like this...

-coconut or -cocoa or indeed -Coco ... are okay because there isn't a space preceding them.

But******onut or******oa or******o are not okay because of the space.

This is the little understood LF space-coconut rule which also puts in more asterisks than hidden letters.

Carole
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This is all due to having our first crop of shirtlifters (sprouts) of the season for lunch today,we're all feeling well inflated now. Seriously why does it delete c o c o when its only a bit of slang or c o c o a,I never realised they were offensive words. Anyway regarding prices in France have a look at this month's French Property News, there are quite some good articles on current prices and very very many private properties for sale now compared to this time last year.
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If our experience is anything to go by, property

prices in France - at least in Pas de Calais - most

certainly are falling alongside UK prices.

We looked at 13 houses in August, all in very good

condition, all 4 + beds etc, and of those houses,

11 are still on the market, and 5 of those have been

significantly reduced in price, as has our own house

here in London. Falls in UK prices are bound to

have an effect on prices in France because people

like us are using the equity built up in UK property.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks to all who have replied.

 I think the latest on this subject 'is the big rush over' is relevent. The property market in the UK has ground to a halt at the moment and increases in interest rates are having a huge effect.

 Earlier in the year we had sold the house twice( and needless to say, ready to move to France, being in the Dordogne property hunting when the second dissappointment arrived) they both fell through, this was prior to the slow-down. To achieve a sale we will, like many more, have reduced the selling price. This will effect what we can afford to buy in France. We do not want property with gite/B & B as we are retiring to what has got to be a better way of life than the UK.

I have also notice a considerable increase in private sales on FPN in the last six weeks. This may be due to the increase in interest rates and folks taking fright who have bought second homes on the strength of the equity in their UK property or just people coming back home, heavens know why, but it surely must affect the market price of property in France in the coming year.

Thanks again for those who took the time to reply to my enquiry.

 

alan

 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am almost ready to take the plunge and buy a home in the Var.........I have done my research on the net sometimes daily over the past year, been over 6 times. Anything I like the look of I print for reference.

I saw something last week...........print. Went back into the immosite a week later to check if there were any others, the Villa price had been raised by 14000 euros....why? It had been on for over a year with no sale!

In the summer I had lunch with an immobilier, and was told the inside track.The French it seems are convinced they are sitting on a goldmine. The English will pay, and they will wait. Offers are a nightmare, and seen as an insult. Immobiliers at times reduce their fees to take the shortfall. In some cases they will gut the home, kitchen........... the lot.

Prices in the South are high, in fact 'more for your money', is not that much more in some cases, just more land, climate, culture, and the big difference. If you get it wrong, a hell of a lot of maintenance too.

We are over in March..........the quest continues.........wish me luck!

 

 

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Annee - I think that's a pretty good summing up, at least from the experience of somebody living in France who is close to the estate agency business. The greed of some French (and non-French) sellers is a big part of the equation. It's not just the English buyers they see as a cash cow, it's other European nationalities, like the Dutch here in Normandy, plus the Germans and Belgians in some other regions, and of course the Parisians who all seem to want a holiday apartment on the coast or to retire to the rural lifestyle.

Sellers will put their houses on with several agencies, as the French system is different and there's not really any such thing as sole agency. They (or the notaire) will always ask the price corresponding to the highest valuation, so the more realistic agencies won't really bother to market the place very strongly as they know it's overpriced. Maybe eventually the price will catch up, maybe a mug will come along, or possibly, as you have seen, the seller will see something in the paper to say that house prices have risen by say 15% so will increase the asking price - French sellers are used to houses taking ages to sell, and if it goes in the first month or three will think the house was underpriced.

Having said that, though, good houses at the right price can still be found but they tend not to hang around very long. There is still a good number of serious buyers, though thankfully fewer dreamers and timewasters. So the good places tend to be sold before websites are updated or advertisements appear - the best way to find the good places is to actually go and visit the agents and notaires. So good luck with your next trip.

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Where we are in the Vendee the price of some types of property have risen by over 20% in the last year and during the summer there was noticeable resentment among the ‘fist time buyer’ age group of any owners of a ‘maison secondaire.’ I hope this is not indicative of a trend throughout France!

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To understand the French property market and price increases it is helpful to see things from a broader European prospective. Generally speaking prices in the EU most things have levelled out since the introduction of the Euro. That includes property. The regional variations in property values apply in all EU countries depending on a variety of factors. Climate, fashion availability of work etc.. France seems to be the last country to catch up to these value norms. If you go to the deepest countryside in say Portugal, Spain or Italy generally speaking the price of property is the same. Rural property in France is currently moving up towards the same values. It has nothing to do with greed or anything similar. It is simply just how markets work. Prices have been low in France traditionally because the supply side was abundant with the type of property foreigners wanted. That is beginning to change and as a result values move up as supply goes down. Gradually the EU economic area will level out and you will pay the same for a house anywhere in Europe making allowances for location and desirability. With a single interest rate across the board and the same currency it's inevitable. Markets will always rule.
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I bought a small farm in Wales in the seventies when the same thing was happening there.Loads of people were making the trip over the Severn Bridge to buy second homes in Wales when word got around how cheap it was (but,like France,not for long).We went to live there so for us it was not so bad,but the bad feeling toward, and downright hatred of, second home owners was quite something. The older ones amongst us will remember that quite a few houses were burnt to the ground or vandalised.

I dont think it will get that extreme over here but I can see their point.

At least the rise in house prices is caused by ordinary buyers and not parasitic property developers as it is in the UK.

During our wait to move over to France house prices in the UK had risen so high that we had to use over half our renovation budget to assist our Daughter to get a small step on the property ladder,somewhere out there are loads of property developers who owe me some money !

Do you rember the old John Seymour adage,

Lesser bugs have lesser bugs upon their back to bite em

And lesser bugs have lesser bugs and so ad infitum.

John & Sue (50)
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