Is Property in France a Good Investment?

It’s not surprising that home prices in France have doubled in the last 10 years, this according to a recent study done by Money.co.uk of OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. France is the seventh in a list of countries with the highest real estate prices, with an average per square meter of 8,311€ in 2020. Compare this to Israel’s 8,096€ and Switzerland’s 9,932€. Israel topped them all with an increase of 345.7 percent. The U.S. can only boast of an increase of 153.3 percent.

The increase in real estate prices in France doesn’t jive with salary increases (3 percent), nor with the rate of inflation (1 percent per year). According to the study, in France, the past year has seen a significant increase, particularly in urban apartments. This makes no sense from my perspective with all the conflicting reports about urbanites moving to the countryside and the price of real estate in Paris soft or slightly lower than before the Covid-19 pandemic. But, the study claims that newly built apartments rose in price in July 4.5 percent over the past year and up 1.2 percent over the last three months and most acutely in the areas of Brest, Nantes, Rouen, and Strasbourg. Even with resale apartments, towns of more than 100,000 inhabitants are up at least 5 percent in one year, and some as high as 15 percent (Angers, Aubervilliers, Clamart, Maisons-Alfort, Metz, Tourcoing and Vannes).

The summer slowed down the sales, but that’s normal in the French market. That didn’t happen for us…our market of North American buyers showed increases in sales, particularly in Nice. Newer homes of all sizes have seen a rise, but again, that might be normal for the French market, but not for ours. Our North American clients aren’t interested in new builds. They want France with a capital C for “Charm.”

In Nice, according to residences-immobilier.com, the lowest price per square meter for properties is 3,306€, the average price is 7,857€, and the highest 24,341€. That’s a pretty broad range. Apartments and lofts comprise 77 percent of all properties, with an average price per square meter of 7,579€. Since July 2021, prices of apartments have already seen an increase of +3,76 percent. Houses and villas make up 23 percent of all properties and have an average of 8,787€ per square meter, with a whopping evolution of +37,62 percent since July 2021.

In the sought-after town of Villefranche-sur-Mer as your permanent home, the lowest price per square meter for properties is 4,737€, the average price is 12,355€, and the highest is 26,761€…quite a bit more expensive than Nice and a lot more challenging to find good properties there. When comparing these prices to the entire region of the Alpes Maritimes, the lowest price per square meter is 2,882€, the average price is 8,841€, and the highest is 26,900€. This make Nice still a bargain!

View from a one-bedroom apartment for sale in Villefranche-sur-Mer

Is property in France a good investment? You bet. With increases like this, it’s tough to go wrong. The trick is getting into the market early, holding on to the property as long as you can, keeping it well maintained to maintain its value and generating revenues from it whenever possible.

Fortunately, we can help you do all of it, and you can trust us to steer you in the right directions…

A bientôt