Property updates in brief
Buyers can do a deal to cut prices by an average of 4%
Buyers are negotiating down the prices of properties by an average of 4% across the country with house owners more willing than flat owners to ‘move’ for a sale.
The monthly LPI-SeLoger market study showed the difference between the advertised and real sale prices was about 3.3% for flats and 4.8% for houses.
Rising property demand in Ile-de-France saw flats cut by just 2.7% but Champagne-Ardennes saw prices down 15.5%.
The highest cut in house prices was 6.6% in Basse-Normandie and Bourgogne, with 6.5% in Languedoc-Roussillon.
Building industry gets cheer as new-builds up 18.5%
France has seen a very positive first quarter for the building industry with the number of new-build home starts leaping by 18.5% compared to the first three months of 2016.
In all, 97,100 new homes were started in the first quarter – and that will be augmented in the future with a 15.9% rise in the same quarter in the number of building permits granted, to 113,400. The vast majority of the houses being built are ordinary homes with only 6,900 being retirement homes or student accommodation.
Over the 12-month period the number of houses started has risen 15.5% to 393,400, with 465,100 building permits granted.
Tax office opens up official database to find real prices
Property owners and buyers have been given access to the tax office’s official database of prices to help estimate a realistic price for a property.
The move opens up the Patrim database but it will only be available to people selling or buying a specific property, those planning a wealth tax declaration (where the value of a property has to be estimated), those involved in an inheritance claim or people facing a tax audit.
UK and northern countries have highest mortgage debt
House-buyers in northern European countries such as the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Finland and Sweden are Europe’s most indebted. They contain 18% of the European population but have 34% of the total mortgage debt.
Central western Europe, with France, Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, have 37% of the population and 45% of the loans.
Southern Europe, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain, have 18% of the people against 25% of the debt.
The average debt in northern Europe is €80,164 per household, €54,405 in central western Europe and €27,111 in the south.
