Living Outside the Périphérique

House Hunters International crewIn Monday’s Parler Paris Nouvellettre®, I reported on our most recent filming of a House Hunters International episode which took us to the suburbs of Paris. It’s not very often that we have interest in properties outside of Paris, although there is a very large Expat community in the suburbs — far more than perhaps we all realize.

I am reprinting the article now — and then do follow it through to our deeper look into life outside of the “Périphérique”:

PARISIANS DON’T DO THE PERIPHIRIQUE…OR DO THEY?

When my daughter was living in Brooklyn and invited her friends to come visit her from Manhattan, they found all sorts of excuses for not crossing the bridge into the borough. She said, “Mom, Manhattanites ‘don’t do rivers'” — meaning as you can imagine, they were too self important to leave the island of Manhattan.

The same can be very true for Parisians, who, for the same reason, “don’t do the Périphérique” — meaning they don’t cross the outer ring road that separates the 20 districts in Paris from the suburbs. I am ‘guilty as charged’…normally…but, for House Hunters International, I made an exception, and discovered there is life outside of Paris. Shocking!

They asked me to be a part of an episode involving a young American couple who were moving here for work and seeking a rental apartment near his job somewhere between Paris and Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée. The couple has one two year-old daughter and a baby on the way. They were seeking a two-bedroom apartment or home in an area that would have schooling facilities and a hospital. Their budget was 1,000€ per month.

The three-days of filming with a crew which had come from the U.K. took place in three different suburbs and three very different types of properties. We began with a lovely apartment on the east side of the Bois de Vincennes, just outside the Périphérique and accessible by Métro. This makes it easily accessible to Paris and closer to city living than the other properties, yet it had a full on view of the park on a wide residential street. A cross between city living and country life, it was an ideal situation…for someone who enjoys that dichotomy.

The second property was a large home in the heart of an old village near Disneyland Paris. It oozed charm and massive amounts of space plus a large yard for the kids. There was one restaurant at the corner across from the church and the setting was idyllic…but a trip into Paris was either a one-hour RER ride or 45 minutes by car.

The third property was a spacious apartment in one level of a house closer to his work dead center between Paris and Disneyland Paris in a “new town” community about 21 kilometers from Paris which interestingly enough, has an Asian community (Chinese, Cambodians, Laotians and Vietnamese) taking up about 40% of all the inhabitants and is known as “the first Asian town of France.” The RER stops there, making it a good compromise.

My role was “property consultant” who had found the three properties and advised on which of the three would suit them best. For the filming, I took the RER to and from all the locations, or hitched a ride in one of their cars to travel between them. It’s not something of a habit, as when you’re living in centra
l Paris, transportation is as simple as your own two legs and feet, or perhaps an occasional bus or Métro. Remember, ‘we don’t do the Périphérique!’

The experience in the suburbs did not change my point of view, although I could see the attractiveness and advantages for those who like seeing the fields, the birds, the lakes and the open skies…but for an urbanite such as myself, I’ll stick with the banks of the Seine, the gray stone monuments, the hustle-bustle of the busy city, particularly Paris, any day of the week.

It takes a couple of months for HGTV to finalize the production and air the episode, so you’ll just have to wait till it officially airs to learn which of the three properties they chose…as I will not divulge!

End of article.

In the U.S., the inner cities suffered while the suburbs became to havens for the wealthy…just the opposite of what happened in Europe. Here in France, the central parts of the cities have continued to increase in value, while living in the suburbs became a less-expensive answer for families needing more space on a tighter budget. This is not true for all suburbs, but outside Paris in particular, the government built public housing in the banlieues (suburbs), to house hundreds of thousands of individuals from North Africa. You may recall the civil unrest, notably in the autumn 2005 that occurred in these areas.

There are also several wealthy suburbs outside Paris, such as Neuilly-sur-Seine (the wealthiest commune of France), Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Versailles.

Just this past week, Le Chambre de Notaire de Paris issued a property market report for all of the Ile-de-France (French Property Market Report). Resale apartments in the “Petite Couronne” (Seine-Saint-Denis,Hautes-de-Seine, Val-de Marne) during the last quarter of 2011 went down slightly to 4,440€/m2 (-0.7%), but annually prices were up 8.8%.

In the “Grande Couronne” (Seine-et-Marne, Essonne, Yvelines, Val-d’Oise), resale apartments also declined to 3,140€/m2 (-0.9%), but annually up 5%. Resale homes in the Grande Couronne reported an average of 289,100€ during the last quarter of 2011, an increase of 4.7% for the year.

These prices are approximately half of what you can expect inside the périphérique and therefore doubly more affordable than Paris living. For those looking to make a purchase, the suburbs of Paris can offer a big advantage, especially for those whose work is in the suburbs like the young couple’s who were the subject of House Hunter’s International. So, while I personally may be suburb-averse, no doubt, it can be idyllic for others as well as a good investment.

A bientôt,

Adrian Leeds
Editor, French Property Insider

Email: [email protected]

 P.S. I am writing you from the balcony of “Le Matisse” in Nice. The sun is on my face and the aromas from the restaurants below are wafting up. Today, we are putting a few more finishing touches on the apartment — art on the walls, the final window shades are being installed, etc. While my first guest, who tested the apartment before me, had nothing but wonderful things to say about it, I must attest to this fact. So far, I’ve had the pleasure of a luxurious bath in the big oval tub, prepared dinner in the new kitchen, watched TV on the big screen and “Brice de Nice” (Jean Dujardin) on the small TV in the bedroom and enjoyed a very good night’s sleep on the comfy bed. It’s booking up very well, so if you’re thinking of visiting the Riviera, don’t wait too long to set your dates and reserve your stay — rates are likely to go up as it becomes more popular. Visit “Le Matisse” or email [email protected] to learn more.