The French Property Scene

As I get more and more involved with French property as a result of my activities as both a property finder and an “agent commercial”, I have been trying to assess the state of the property market in France, particularly of course in the Perigord Vert. So what is going on according to those supposedly in the know?

Well the latest figures published by the ‘Notaires de France’ show that prices have fallen nationally by 3% in 2012 although this figure hides some notable falls in certain areas and rises in others (prices around Toulouse for example have actually risen by 4.5%). Over the past year, FNAIM, the national association of French estate agents, reports that house prices have fallen by an average of 1.3%. There has also been a substantial fall in property sales with both Notaires and estate agents reporting a slump of around 20% in the volume of sales despite the record low mortgage rates. As with the UK market, much of this is to do with the banks that have introduced tougher lending criteria with the result that mortgage lending is down by around 30% in the past year.

In this region, there has certainly not been a noticeable drop in prices actually asked this year but I have noticed that sellers are being more realistic about accepting offers below their asking price and this seems to have sustained the market here and kept things moving. This means that 2012 has been a buyers’ market and I think that this will continue into 2013. Properties needing total renovation are also in the frame again as are part renovated properties which are habitable though in need of some finishing, as long as the price is realistic and reflects the work to be done.

A great example of this is a property that I have recently taken on to market through Allez-Francais. It is a former railway station that was converted (rather badly) some years ago into three apartments but it has been empty for some years now and is looking rather sorry for itself. It is a large property that would make either a fine family home or perhaps a bed and breakfast property. It was on the market for €260,000 and was attracting zero interest. I advised the owners that if they really wanted to sell, they needed to lower the price significantly to reflect the renovation work that would be required. It is now on the market for just €159,000 (about £130,000) and is attracting a lot of interest. Have a look at it here.

In addition, demand for good quality properties in good locations is also strong, thanks to a lack of domestic buyers which has opened up opportunities for British and international buyers to snap up desirable properties. Click here to see an example of another property that I have just taken into my portfolio that very much fits the "quality property" tag. I really enjoyed myself photographing this one!

So how to sum up the property market in this region in 2012? Well, despite the continued uncertainty in the Euro-zone, France stays consistent in its appeal to foreign buyers and I can’t see that the wish to own a small part of this beautiful country will be changing any time soon. Certainly the lower risk factor of buying property here keeps buyers and investors interested and the very low mortgage rates, tight controls and the uncertain Euro mean that French houses are still very good value. And while property in this region hasn’t been reduced to bargain basement prices, it generally remains well under UK averages with plenty of properties available within any budget. So despite the widely varied reports on the market from different sectors of the industry, 2012 has been a relatively stable year for property in this region. Sellers have become more realistic about the price they are likely to get and so long as buyers are reasonably flexible in the kind of property they are looking for and the compromises they are prepared to make, there are some outstanding bargains to be had.

I don’t think anyone knows quite what is going to happen with the Euro or the financial climate generally but I have every confidence that, for anyone who wants a beautiful French house in a stunning location combined with a fantastic quality of life and a lovely climate, this is one of the better places in the world to spend your money on property.

Of course that is just a personal viewpoint from someone who has no regrets at all about having made the move to live and work in France!

Le Clos des Chênes

On the evening of the 2^nd October we arrived in a state of nervous excitement at the offices of the Notaire in Montbron who had been selected by both parties to handle all the legalities associated with buying a house in France. Unlike the UK where each party chooses its own solicitor to carry out the conveyancing process, it is quite common in France for the same notaire to act for both the buyer and the seller. Their role is to ensure that all the relevant checks and searches have been conducted and that all the relevant legal paperwork has been completed to ensure that the purchase is properly registered.

It is worth remembering that unless you ask for it, the notaire is not obliged to initiate a private consultation to provide you with tailored advice about your own particular circumstances. It is not their job to hold your hand throughout the process in the manner that might be the case with a conveyancing solicitor in the UK. We were fortunate in that there were no contentious issues between our vendors and ourselves – primarily this was because we all got very drunk together one evening and sorted everything out!

The Notaire in Montbron had been selected because he spoke good English and would therefore be in a position to ensure that we fully understood what we were signing. However, we were greeted with the news that he had been unavoidably delayed on another appointment and would not be able to meet us that evening. The look of utter disappointment on our faces must have been obvious – we weren’t going to become property owners quite as soon as we had hoped.

The day was saved though by one of the Notaire’s colleagues who offered to stand in and conduct the meeting – in French! She spoke very little English and my French is hardly good enough for a conversation involving legal jargon but we decided to give it a go on the basis that if we were really unhappy, we need not sign anything.

As it turned out, between us we worked everything out and by the end of the meeting we had signed umpteen pieces of paper and the words we were anxiously awaiting were duly spoken: “Vous êtes propriétaires”. Not since we were declared Man and Wife had anything sounded as satisfying as being declared the owners of our own piece of French paradise.

We had even come up with a name for our new home – ‘Le Clos des Chênes’. It means something along the lines of ‘the oak enclosure’ and reflects the fact that the house sits in the middle of a wooded field, the majority of the trees being oaks.

We had the lease on the rented property until the end of October so we now had a good four weeks to get moved in – quite a luxury compared to every other house move I have ever done. We set ourselves a target date of 24^th October to be living in the new house so that we then had time to clean the rental property thoroughly before handing back the keys.

Good plan I thought. The problem was that the day after the signing was our wedding anniversary – not a problem in itself except that we spent that evening sat on the covered deck, eating a huge steak cooked on the barbecue and drinking far too much wine as we watched the sun go down. Sod the plan - we knew we wanted to be living there just as soon as we could.

The next morning we started loading up the car and ferrying our belongings across in small batches. Our lovely neighbour Nadine took pity on us and offered her the use of her husband’s old Citroen van. This was a Godsend as it meant we could not only move larger batches but we could also move the larger pieces of furniture (Nikki had not been happy at my earlier suggestion that she take one end of the sofa, I take the other and we just carry it the 300 meters to the new house!).

We unpacked as we went, feeling like kids at Christmas as we opened up boxes containing all those little things you take for granted and miss so much when you’re without them for so long. Sharp knives – oh, how I had missed my sharp kitchen knives!

We were all done by the 13^th October – eleven days ahead of schedule! That night was a cold one but we lit the wood burning stove and basked in its warm glow.

We were totally, utterly, at home.