Rise in rates and rise in prices hit buying power

Rise in rates and rise in prices hit buying power BUYING power for people looking to enter the property market has been reduced slightly this year due to a rise in both prices and in mortgage rates – and industry analysts are not sure if the upward trend will continue or not.

Mortgage brokers Empruntis said the German and French economic situations, plus France’s presidential election, made predictions hard.

Brokers Meilleurtaux said only buyers in Grenoble were getting (slightly) more for their money but others were losing out – as in Rennes, where repayments of €1,000 on a 20-year loan would buy a 74m2 property
in February, but 77m2 in January.