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Life certificate pension suspension ‘left me overdrawn and stressed’
Retired journalist Jane McIntosh, 72, said the decision to stop her payments took place in December 2025
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French municipal elections: key points from the first round
Results show far-right strength in smaller towns and fragmented alliances in major cities
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Pet owner in France faced large fine and prison sentence over ‘illegal’ cat
Issue revealed during a routine visit to vet
Mortgage rates ‘pop’ fears of bubble
Fears France could be facing a property ‘bubble’ have been calmed by the Banque de France market figures for April/May, which showed people were giving far less of their monthly budgets to repayments than before the 2008 crash.
While there was an unprecedented 36% rise in mortgage applications last year, 85% of them were for main homes and 12% for investment property.
The central bank said all categories of earners were involved and 10% were earning under €20,000 a year.
In all, €137billion of lending was at rates averaging 1.5% in late 2016. Importantly, that meant buyers had had to give over far less of their pay to be able to afford the property, just 24% on average.
