New price record for Paris property

PROPERTY prices in Paris have reached a new record level and are rising fast according to a new report by notaires.

The average cost of a house in the capital has reached €6,680 per metre squared, and prices have risen 7.8 per cent in a year.

Historically low interest rates have exacerbated the problem and prices will continue to rise as demand outstrips supply, said the report.

The previous record, €6,620 per metre squared, was set in the last quarter of 2008.

The president of the Chambre des notaires de Paris et de l'Ile-de-France (the institutions that carried out the study), Christian Lefebvre, told newspapers that a property boom was unlikely given that interest rates would rise and that government house-buying incentives would soon be reformed or even removed.

The most expensive place to buy is the VI arrondissement, with prices of €9,900 per metre squared, followed by the VII and IV.

The number of house sales, 45,000 in the last year, is up 38 per cent on the same period last year.

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