Notaires report better sales

NOTAIRES say the property market is picking up again, with British buyers prominent in Paris as the pound has risen markedly against the euro – worth €1.4169 this week from €1.2288 in May 2014.

Sales in March and April were still down on last year but the notaires said the fall in prices had stopped and for older properties had risen 0.3%. House prices were up 0.6% and the market was “active”.

Bordeaux, Toulouse and Nantes were busy, as was Paris, and finance houses expect to lend up to €150billion this year as against €122bn last year – down from a peak of €175bn in 2011.

Up to 40% of this lending, however, is by people re-mortgaging to take advantage of lower interest rates and broker Meilleurtaux.com said they were at a new all-time low of 2% fixed over 15 years and 2.23% over 20.

Buyers still have the upper hand in negotiating on price but some estate agents have seen an increase in sales. Century 21 told Le Monde the number of promesses de vente were up 9% in March and 22% in April while Orpi said it had seen 4.5% extra promesses since January.

There are still more sellers than buyers in the market and deals were slow in being finalised with an average delay of 105 days - up 30 days on 2010 – but 60 days in Paris.

Notaires yesterday published price details that said averages across France were 1.9% down in the first quarter as against the same period in 2014, but -2.1% in Ile-de-France.

Prices were down 2.9% on average across Paris (where the average price per square metre is €7,910) but had dropped significantly in the sixth and eighth arrondissements, by 7.4% and 8.9%, with large flats bearing the brunt. One in 10 buyers was foreign, with Italians and British leading the way.