Informations on buyers I

Titre à changer

FRENCH PROPERTY : INFORMATIONS ON BUYERS

I. Increase in the number of non-residents

The French property market is becoming more international from year to year.

In 1997, non-residents accounted for more 20% of buyers in the sole département ¹ of Alpes-Maritimes and between 5 and 10% in less than twenty or so other départements.

In 2007, the 20% threshold was cleared in Alpes-Maritimes, the Dordogne and the Creuse, that of 15% in the Gers and Charente, that of 10% in the Manche, the Deux-Sèvres, the Vienne, Corrèze, the Lot, the Lot-et-Garonne, the Tarn-et-Garonne, the Hautes-Pyrénées, the Pyrénées-Orientales, the Aude and the Haute-Savoie.

The Broad South West is by far the most favoured spot of foreigners, mainly the British, who form the main contingent of foreign buyers (close to 60%).

Certain tourist towns, with an international reputation, whose prices are among the highest in the country, are in the process of becoming the “exclusive preserve” of non-residents.

Here are a few most significant examples of said phenomenon :
- Regarding houses, foreigners accounted over the period studied (01/10/06 – 30/09/07) for 64% of buyers in VILLEFRANCHE-SUR-MER, 58% in CHAMONIX, 53% in GRIMAUD, 50% in THEOULE-SUR-MER, 46% in RAMATUELLE ;
- Regarding apartments, they accounted for 55% of buyers in VILLEFRANCHE-SUR-MER and GETS, 42% in BEAULIEU-SUR-MER, 37% in GRIMAUD, 33% in VAL D’ISERE.