To optimize your ad search, the Real Estate Portal of the French Notaires offers a lot of tools such as the multi-criteria search, a Personal Agent, alerts, map search, etc. To learn how to use these tools better and make sure to find a property, you can consult our online help, at the top of the welcome screen (blue menu bar) or click here.

To know more :
> The Site Map provides a bird view of the Property portal

In January 2009, from the 9th to the 11th, the France Show will take place at London’s Earls Court : cultural and tourist information, products, representatives of France... All on hand http://www.thefranceshow.com.

The French Notaires will be there (stand Notaires de France – P 344), with their Real Estate Portal. You will be able to speak directly with a Notaire, ask him or her for an advice, and look for a property.

In the portal, you will even be able to make an offer, thanks to the revolutionary Vente Notariale Interactive (Interactive Notary Sale).

A merry-go-round of ads in English will also be shown on screen.

> Sneak preview 

The property Portal offers a range of tools designed to help you with searches. Among these, an alarm system to be informed about new ads you may be interested in. Following criteria previously defined, you can receive alarms about new ads via email or text messages in your mobile phone.

How does it work ?
> Customer alerts, instruction for use in the Help section

About apartments, the PACA region, which was renowned for its very strong homogeneity in 2006, reflects the price increase in 2007 of provincial properties, with strong disparities. The changes vary from + 3% in Toulon to + 5% in Marseille, to reach + 9% in Nice, which is the most expensive city in France, excluding Paris, with a population of more than 150,000 with a median price of € 3,295 per square metre.

The other border areas (excluding the North of France) retain with the coastline the most expensive prices in France.

The South West continues to propel the market prices upward with the cities of Bordeaux (+ 8% for a price of € 2,419 per square metre) and Toulouse (+ 7% for a price of € 2.485 per square metre).

After the one-off increases in prices above forecasts in certain towns since 2004, the market continues to standardise on an average price in said provincial areas, apart from unusual cases. Said price was in a range of € 2,000 to € 2,300 per square metre in 2006 and is located in 2007 between € 2,200 and € 2,500 per square metre.

The increase is more contrasted in the rest of France with:
- A strong increase, such as in Saint Etienne (+13%), where prices are still very attractive (€ 1,341 per square metre), knowing that it is the cheapest town in France with a population of more than 150,000 ;
- Increases in the small average such as in Reims (+5%) where prices (€ 2.177 per square metre) no longer reach the standard threshold of privileged provincial towns or else a symbolic rise (+1%) in Rennes where prices (€ 2,299 per square metre) remain at a high level.

In 2007, if a six roomed apartment could be bought in Nantes for € 350,000.00, one has to make do with a three roomed apartment in Boulogne Billancourt for the same price. In 1997, for said amount, an investor bought a five roomed apartment in Cannes…

Old houses

In the South with Bordeaux (€ 226,500 +7%), Toulouse (€ 255,000 +6%), Grenoble (€ 326,500 +6%) and especially PACA (Nice € 460,000 +7% and Marseille-Aix en Provence (€ 296,000 +4%) the price of houses is on average the highest with a budget between € 200,000 and over € 500,000.

In the North with Lille (€ 166,000 +8%), Rouen especially (€ 162,000 +12 %) and in the East with Reims (€ 217,000 + 7%) and Strasbourg (€ 292,000 +8%) the increases are higher than the national average.

It seems that there is still a room for growth in certain towns like Amiens (€ 150,000) or Le Havre (€ 155,500) like what we saw over recent years for cities like Toulon (5th) in 1997, (2nd) in 2007 (€ 335,900) or Nantes which rose from 17 th to 10 th (€ 234,300) or Bordeaux which rose from 21st to 12 th.

This confirms that the individual house market, if it is still high, still shows high contrast in prices and surface areas even though the average surface area is still comfortable with approximately 110 square metres for approximately 5 rooms. For instance, with a budget of € 250,000, one can buy a 5 roomed house in Talence, Gironde and only a 3 roomed house in Seyne S/ Mer in the VAR.

Overall, over the last ten years, we note that old houses have practically tripled in value. In 1997, with the same budget of € 250,000, one could buy a 5 roomed house in the suburbs of Lyon or in the Annecy region, which are very sought after sectors.

To know more

People which already tried to build a house in France, knows how difficult it could be, because of the time to wait, licence to win, and others process to follow. The government understood this situation, and fined down the rules.

Suppling up and delay’s reducing

For example, below 20m2 of construction, no more permit will be required, just a preliminary statement close to the city hall. Other change, the delays of instruction for individual houses are shorter : 2 months.

2007 did not see a drop in price of old residential properties. The Notariat announced an increase above inflation; national prices increased year over year by 5.7% for apartments and by 5.6% for houses, based on the INSEE index (Notaires de France “whole of France”).

However, in 2006, the growth rate of the index was 12.2% for apartments and 10% for houses. It was respectively 16.2% and 13.4% in the year before. Thereby, prices continued to rise in 2007 but less than in previous years. The slowdown is not the same for the whole of France.

Apartments vs. Houses

For apartments, Nice enjoyed an increase of close to two figures whereas in all other French cities with a population of more than 150,000, the increase was only one figure. Only the City of Saint-Etienne stands out with an increase of 13%. For houses, the slow down in price increase is clearer as all provincial towns with a population of more than 150,000 recorded an increase of less than 10%.

More generally, in the province, the difference in price increase of apartments and houses is clearly tighter, with a slight benefit for apartments. This trend is stronger in the Paris Region, where the price increase of apartments is clearly higher than houses. It remains that the most expensive residential property prices in France are in border area towns (apart from the North of France) and on the coastline.

In summary, based on our observation of the property market, it appears that the price increase of apartments is now slower than the price increase of houses.

A promotion campaign can be seen on the Web since the Easter week-end. Its aims are to inform the public about the release of the new Real Estate Portal of the Notaries’ de France, and to develop the common knowledge of the notaries’ real estate activity. This first wave of communication concerns Yahoo.fr, MSN.fr and Le Monde.fr.

The other downbeats

A press campaign is also visible through four special “Property” editions of the French reviews L’Express, Le Point, Le Figaro Magazine and Le Nouvel Observateur. Finally, two others waves are planned : in the beginning of June (after the Notaires de France’s annual congress in may), and during September 2008.