An autumn update on the French property market, some news on possible changes to visa rules for British homeowners and a celebrity home story in Provence…
Market slowdown
Homehunters with budgets of €250,000 or less should feel increasingly spoilt for choice in much of France now, where property prices have fallen in the second half of 2023.
Average resale prices for houses in mainland France fell 0.9 per cent in the three months to the end of July 2023 and 0.7 per cent over the 12 months leading up to that date, according to the latest property report from Notaires de France. For apartments, the drops were 1.2 per cent and 1.4 per cent, respectively.
Nothing happens fast in the French market, but evidence points to 2023 being a tipping point after the heightened activity of recent years, fuelled by low-interest rates and post-Covid rebound. “According to the projections from preliminary contracts at the end of July 2023, prices of old dwellings in metropolitan enter a declining phase,” said the Notaires report. “After the gradual deceleration of the price increase observed since September 2022, prices are expected to decrease by 1 per cent year-on-year.”
Limousin
Where to find sub-€250,000 bargains
The good news for buyers with tighter budgets is the scope of French regions where the average price for resale houses remains €250,000 or below. This applies to 17 of the 32 municipal areas in mainland France that feature in the Notaires report (based on Q1 2023). Most of these are in the northern and central departments, particularly the so-called Grand Ouest area, and include Amiens (€190k), Rouen (€194,200), Le Havre (€227k), Orléans (€222,400), Châteauroux (€134k), Limoges (€186,700), Troyes (€194k), St-Etiénne (€231,400), Lille (€233,900), Reims (€245k) and Poitiers (€190k).
Bargain hunters might be tempted by three standout areas that have seen prices drop. These are Chartres and the two southern municipalities of Nîmes and Montauban, with average prices of €224k, €245k and €208,900 respectively.
Good news for buyers with tighter budgets is the scope of French regions where the average price for resale houses remains €250,000 or below.
Compare these prices with those of France’s premium markets, including the Med coastline and its fashionable cities: Marseille/ Aix-en-Provence (€399,900) and Toulon (€468,400) in the Côte d’Azur; Bordeaux (€385,0000), Lyon (€422,000), Montpellier (€418,500) and of course Île-de-France (€361,900).
Meanwhile, the latest ONS House Price Index highlight how affordable France is: the average house price in England is now £310,000 (€355,000), which includes all types of dwellings.
A typical country home in the Dordogne
Foreign ownership hot spots
Looking for an area of France where you’ll be able to mingle with other expats? Then your best bet is to buy a home in one of the eight departments where non-residents account for 5 per cent or more of property purchases.
These are Creuse (8 per cent), Alpes-Maritimes (7 per cent), Ardennes (7 per cent), Dordogne (6 per cent), Nièvre (6 per cent), Charente (6 per cent), Haute-Savoie (6 per cent) and the Lot (5 per cent).
According to the Notaires report, the next busiest departments in terms of foreign purchases include the Lot et Garonne, Gers, Vienne, Haute-Vienne, Indre, Vaucluse, Var, Aude and Pyrénées-Orientales. In total, foreigners account for 1.8 per cent of resale housing transactions (Q1 2023), which is still behind a peak of 2 per cent in 2015. Belgium now matches the UK as the foreign nation buying the most number of French properties.
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A visa for second homeowners in France could be on the cards
Hope for easier visa rules
In other good news, France has taken a step closer to allowing British people to spend time at their second homes more freely and outside of the limitations imposed by the 90/180 visa rule applicable to non-EU citizens.
In November, the French Senate voted through an amendment to the country’s immigration law that would give British second homeowners the automatic right to a long-stay visa.
This positive development has been championed by French senator Martine Berthet, who represents the Savoie in the southern Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Ms Berthet put forward the rule change after receiving complaints from Britons who own holiday homes in the region. “The Britons I have spoken to say the current system is long-winded, difficult and full of pitfalls,’ she is reported as saying in the national press.
It is thought that change would be mutually beneficial to Britons and local French communities. The current rules, which restrict the time non-EU citizens can spend in France to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period, contribute to the rising number of vacant properties – many owned by Brits – in the country’s popular tourist regions and means the French economy isn’t benefiting as much as it could from British homeowner
The new less restrictive rules, which would apply to UK citizens only, are not over the line yet though. While the French parliament’s lower house (Senate) has approved them, the upper house (National Assembly) still needs to approve them. If passed, France would become the first EU country to have special visa rules for British homeowners, who would likely be required to carry some form of proof of property ownership when travelling.
The Piddock’s new home in Aups
A deal in Provence!
A bijou home in a corner of Provence is proof that certain properties do have that celebrity ‘je ne sais quoi‘ after changing hands recently between film-star owners! Cue the celebrated actor Richard E. Grant who has sold his French holiday home to famous Hollywood couple, Jim Piddock and his wife Ann Cusack.
The idyllic farmhouse, situated in the pretty village of Aups, was owned by Richard, star of Withnail And I, Loki and Star Wars, and his late wife Joan Washington for more than 30 years. Called Le Pigeonnier, they used it as a family getaway, somewhere to enjoy quality time with their children.
Selling up wasn’t the easiest decision for Richard, who posted on social media: “Heart sore to sell Le Pigeonnier in Provence after 30 Summers. Sleeps seven. Pool, badminton, olive and fruit trees.”
As new owners of Le Pigeonnier, British actor, writer and producer Jim and actress Ann, a couple who are best known for their roles in Independence Day and A League of Their Own respectively, should have little difficulty unwinding at their French bolt-hole.
Jim Piddock and his wife Ann Cusack, new owners of this farmhouse
Jim said: “I was first introduced to the Var about a quarter of a century ago by my dear friend Eric Idle and have been visiting the area almost every summer since then. During those years, Ann and I made several other friends locally and fell in love with all the beautiful villages in the Haut Var. It feels a million miles away from Hollywood, and the insular world of show business, and forces you to appreciate a much simpler, slower pace of life.
“Every year, I’d fantasize about buying somewhere in Provence and we’d maybe look at a small handful of places for sale, but we never quite found the right fit. But this year, when Richard — who was one of the people we’d met in Provence and London over the years — told me he was selling his place in Aups after having spent more than thirty summers there, I was extremely sad to see him go. The time and the place both finally seemed right.”
Far removed from the glitz and glamour of the Côte d’Azur just an hour away, Aups is surrounded by vineyards, stone terraces, olive groves, truffle forests and the wilderness of the Var region. Airports at Marseille and Nice are both a 90-minute drive away.
