1,700 government buildings for sale

Chateaux, military barracks and office buildings up for grabs as France sells off its unused property to help cut debts

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THE GOVERNMENT has announced it is looking to sell off some 1,700 properties it owns throughout France to help cut the country's debts.

A chateau overlooking Lac Léman in the Haute-Savoie, a former hunting authority building in the heart of the Saint-Germaine-en-Laye forest and a five-storey Haussmann-era Parisian immeuble are among the buildings up for grabs in the big sell-off.

Most of the properties are in the provinces, and full details of the portfolio are online at this link.

In the meantime, Le Figaro has a slideshow showing some of the buildings that are for sale.

Budget and Public Accounts Minister François Baroin said the state owned too much property and many of the buildings were "useless and unadapted" for official use.

Part of the proceeds from the sale between now and 2013 will go towards reducing France's debt - although the majority will be spent on renovating other state-owned buildings.

Photo: Yanik Chauvin - Fotolia.com

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