Where in France to invest in property market ?

[Elbet]

Been living in South of France for 6 months , loved it and want to invest in property market somewhere in the South East . Any advice on Where is a good investment could be ? I am looking basically to invest in the future "Nice/Cannes" of the south East , any clue where on the map that could be ? I can afford buying a place up to 200K Euros , I am not looking to occupy the place for the coming 10 years .

Any advice is appreciated

Thanks in advance

Sh 

[Bugsy]

[quote user="Elbet"]

 I am looking basically to invest in the future "Nice/Cannes" of the south East , any clue where on the map that could be ? I can afford buying a place up to 200K Euros ,

[/quote]

If you find a place in Cannes or Nice for 200k please let me know because our last visit there produced the finding that any house of reasonable quality was more like 350k upwards.

[Elbet]

I guess 200K won't buy a decent place in Nice or Cannes , I am basically looking in the Longedoc area , but looking for advice on which city/area I should consider that has potential to be like Nice or Cannes in the future , any idea ?

[Clair]

Elbet,

I'm not being funny, but I do think you should read up on it a bit more...

I assume you mean the Languedoc...

I'd be like me looking to buy in Antshier or Scumforp [:D]

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Clair"]Elbet,
I'm not being funny, but I do think you should read up on it a bit more...
I assume you mean the Languedoc...

I'd be like me looking to buy in Antshier or Scumforp [:D]
[/quote]But it was funny, all the same.

Seriously, the clever "investors" in propery, know where a good place is before anybody else finds it.  That's true anywhere in the world.  If it were my money, I'd probably look around for places where there are fewer Brits, but which have the potential to attract them in the future.  And many on here will certainly attest to the fact that buying cheap wrecks and doing them up is not a good approach here - if it were the French would have got there before us.

[Ian]

Property is a longterm investment vehicle and one that need not have an exit strategy - many investors accessing capital appreciation via a re-finance system.

The holy grail is both capital and rental income being maximised - this will be dictated by supply and demand.  Throughout western europe and North America smaller properties tend to deliver greater rental yields - Elbet will probably receive a better "income" from 2 well chosen €100k  properties rather than one €200k property.

What boosts demand here in France?

• Good weather (Elbet is looking at a particularly sunny region)
• Good connections - get within an hour of a growing international airport, say half an hour to a mainline rail station eg Marseille or Toulouse
• Coast - empirically, coastal properties are desired by more and more of us
• Booming / new employment - scan the papers/web for big companies relocating to towns and cities in your chosen search area - modern tech type companies are inevitably a better future bet than "old" industry.  Look too where major hotel chains are investing - they have teams of boffins working on where is going to be the next big-thing. What areas are being heavily invested in eg Old town in Nice, new tramlines for Toulouse, any new congress centre, theme park, autoroute (eg between Castres and Toulouse), on a smaller scale: lots of skips outside houses as othere renovate, new up market shops (designer outlets, jewelers, beauty-spas, mercedes/porsche outlets), in fact the shops don't have to be that up-market if there are plenty of new ones, new foreign estate agents opening a branch (first check to see if they are any good as lots are hopeless and go under!) etc etc

• Transient population (who will become your tenants) - so University towns, tourist hotspots etc
• Beauty and Charm - in the eye of the beholder of course but some places just make you go "wow"!
• Celebrity cachet - like it or not this changes demand - witness Sandy Lane Barbados, post-Peter Mayle Provence, that village north of St Trop' where the Beckhams bought etc Time to buy OK and Hello mag!

What restricts supply?

• Lack of space - eg. city centre, private beach
• Development restrictions  - national parks, areas of outstanding beauty
• History - No matter how big Nice gets there is only one Old Town ... they can't build another vielle ville or 200 year old mas!
• Views - only so many flats/houses can have a sea view (make sure nothing can be bult infront of you!)
• "Defined" Exclusivity - groovy postcodes (certain parisien arr.), famous places from history/culture

Often the best bets have been discovered by others - that is not so bad, do not try and get in "at the bottom" far better to ride the boom and accept that you will have to pay a little more.  If an area is such a well-hidden gem will others ever be able to find it and drive up the prices/rent from you?

Me? I've invested in Old Nice - it ticked enough boxes for me, though buying today may mean that the rental yields are a little low for new investors who really need the income.  There are still one-bed flats for less than €200k.

Where next? That'd be telling!  Best of luck,  Ian

[Athene]

My opinion is that it would be better if it is appreciation you after to invest in the UK in the London comuter belt. £200,000 will buy you a flat in Wickford, Essex on main line into London. No, I would not choose to live there but lots working in the capital do! It would rent well for a good return.

[Logan]

The only advice you need here is the post by Ian. [:)]

[maryj]

Hi,

I bought a property from  chezriviera (www.chezriviera.com)  in Nice. It was a 1 bed on rue Verdi for 165,000. (bargin or what). It needed a bit of work, paint and varnish to the floors.  If you speak to Aideen or Donal tell them you were recommend to by maryj

[heidi h]

Hello

I would personally invest in the housing market in the UK rather than France. Someone did tell me the other day though, that there will be a big boom in the Langeduoc area because of the TGV connecting through to Barcelona in a few years. Don't know how much truth there is in that though!It may help!

[maryj]

Property (apartments ) for sale in Nice and the French Riviera has capital apreciation of between 9-15% and has a summer rental market. Last March I bought a small 1 bedroom from Chez Riviera (www.chezriviera.com) on rue Verdi for 165,000 euro and put 15,000euro work into it. I rented it out for most of the summer for 700 a week, i hopefully plan to buy another next year. To find out more about investing in Nice you can check out http://www.chezriviera.com/investinginnice.html . If you talk to Aideen or Donal tell them maryj says hi.

[Benjamin]

Have you got hiccups maryj as you've just about repeated your earlier posting with a few embellishments added?

Or do you like chezriviera so much you thought we should all be let in on the secret? [:P]

[Gardian]

[quote user="heidi h"]

Someone did tell me the other day though, that there will be a big boom in the Langeduoc area because of the TGV connecting through to Barcelona in a few years. [/quote]

I think that it's more than a few years off.  They haven't settled on a routing for it and I'm not even sure that the funding has been finally approved.  I suspect that we're talking 2014/15, but someone like mpprh will probably know.

[woody2122]

When you say 700 a week do you mean euros or pounds

[Ian]

Woody - any one of my 3 Nice appartments can be rented for 700 euros or less. (Including my 2 bedder)

Ian