France prices falling? (low activity in market)

[birdy]

Hi guys.
After the falls in property prices in US I was told by a friend that has few apartments in France (Nice) That the market was so slow and that prices
were coming down!
Is this true? and do you expect this to go further?

[Goldberg Global]

Sarkozy can only help the situation.

[linda huff]

Hi,
The market is slow in France, even at 25% reduction a fully renovated property in a busy tourist area is hard to sell, people have got so sceptical of scams, they are suspicious of everything "if it seems too good to be true it usually is", however occasionally it is true, it depends on whose selling and the real need to sell ie: divorce, actually it is an ideal time to buy as prices will only go up ecpecially with Sarkozy's plans.
If you want a great bargain, a genuine reason for sale, a truely lovely property contact huffsinfrance@wanadoo.fr

[wildperson]

Hi Linda Try selling it through huntersearchclub they seem to have active buyers,my friend has just sold to a cash buyer at a fair price .Good luck.

[Attika International]

According to the Nouvel Observateur, there are certain areas of France where prices are still rising rapidly - namely Paris and the Cote d'Azur. OUr agency has offices in Nice and Cannes and have seen the number of sales this year increase this year by overseas buyers. Prices have certainly not stabilised either - according to the Chambre des Notaires they rose in Nice by over 12% in the first months of 2007 - we are still waiting to hear the full results for the year but it's expected to be at over 17% growth.
With the number of foreign buyers wishing to relocate to the Riviera and the number of low cost airlines serving the area, we can only see that the market on the Riviera will remain strong.
Claire Healy
ATTIKA INTERNATIONAL

[propertyborders]

Originally Posted by birdy

Hi guys.
After the falls in property prices in US I was told by a friend that has few apartments in France (Nice) That the market was so slow and that prices
were coming down!
Is this true? and do you expect this to go further?

This is the first I have heard of this.

[neustria]

In our area of the Poitou-Charentes (south Deux-Sevres) there are hundreds of properties on the market with no buyer in sight. There are certainly amongst these some good properties to be found at well under peak 2006 valuations. If you want to buy, you can take your time, in this area at least I can't see anything picking up anytime soon.

Beware of the agents who systematically paint a rosy view of the situation in order to entice you to buy. Never forget where the vested interest of the person giving you his advice lies!

As regards France it shouldn't be forgotten - it often it is here - that Real Estate had a fantastic run up from 2000-2005. Such periods, when they come, are usually very spaced out over time. I believe that the inflation provoked by the country's adhesion to the Euro played a major part in this rise, which also happened to coincide with the bursting of the DotCom bubble. To my knowledge only Germany remained unaffected, but that country had its own specific set of issues.

France has traditionally a segmented market with places like Paris and the Riviera behaving one way, remoter areas quite another. You will have to look at the specific conditions in the market you are looking at. In desirable urban high-density areas prices seem to hold up better in soft market conditions as we are seeing now.

I hope that this is useful to some of you.

[CaroleBay]

Hi Neustria

Very interesting - you're the second person I've come across in a few days to say the same about Poitou-Charentes.

I wonder what is happening in other regions.

Please, does anyone else have any comments ?

Carole Bayliss
mortgagefrance.com

[neustria]

Thank you for your comments Carole.

We relocated to S. Germany last summer where we are currently considering investing in Commercial Real Estate to supplement our income. (see my other post on the subject)

We had originally considered selling our holdings in the Deux-Sevres but there were so many properties on the market that it seemed to be the very worst possible time to sell. Since we had originally purchased in 1993 the property value (at the top of the market)had actually gone up nearly fourfold by the summer of 2007.

We found renters therefore, and the income from the property now just covers our monthly payments on the 15-year mortgage. Soon the mortgage will be paid off and we will be able to enjoy the income from it until the market becomes more buoyant.

To finance our future German investment we sold an appartment in Provence where the market has held up better. I hope to invest this cash in Germany where the yields are higher.

We determined the price of the appartment we sold in Aix by assuming that it was producing a yield of 3.8%. Yields there dropped as the values appreciated, the rate of rent increases lagging that of real estate appreciation...

All my best.

Neustria

[CaroleBay]

Hi There

I've just come across this website Immoprix - Bienvenue which gives figures and percentage increases of property prices throughout the various regions and many departments in France.

It's a shame the last quarters figures for 2007 are not available yet, but it does show that 2005 was a peak year for many departments.

Carole Bayliss
mortgagefrance.com