Solar panels, ‘ugly’ tractors, 2024 forecast: French property updates

Farmer fined over €100,000 over ‘ugly’ tractors

A farmer who ignored a court order to remove old tractors from his land for three years now has to pay over €100,000 in accumulated fines.

A neighbour, based two kilometres away and who owns an upmarket gïte, said the exterior of the farmer’s home looked like an “open-air dump” and was “visual pollution”.

The farmer is now seeking to start counter action against the neighbour, saying the court was misled with zoomed-in photos.

Read more: French farmer fined €105,000 over ‘ugly’ tractors

Town spends €4m buying villas to demolish them

A commune in south-east France has spent over €4 million purchasing villas - to subsequently demolish them.

The land will be returned to a natural or semi-natural state (turned into gardens, leisure areas, farms, or left untouched) to allow natural landscapes to return to Mandelieu-la-Napoule near Cannes.

This in turn will allow solis to collect more water during heavy rains with authorities hoping it will prevent a recurrence of the flooding experienced by the town in 2015 and 2019.

Read more: Why a commune in France is spending millions demolishing villas

Solar panel prices plummet

Solar panels are up to 50% cheaper than this time last year due to Chinese manufacturers ramping up production.

Despite this, however, some claim it is still difficult in France to install panels.

One blow to those who are looking into purchasing panels is a court case ruling against a homeowner who installed the panels under what he called ‘misleading’ information.

The court ruled however he would still need to pay back the bank loan he took out to buy and install the panels despite the panels being of poor quality and not providing the amount of energy advertised.

Read more: Why the price of home solar panels is dropping fast in France

Read more: French court rules against homeowner on ‘misleading’ solar panel deal

What does 2024 hold for the French property market?

Despite frequent speculation of a property market ‘crisis’, many experts say this is just a natural part of the property cycle and that the situation will begin to change in 2024.

2023 saw a drop but only after many years of a booming market – even during the Covid crisis – which was eventually bound to slow down.

Interest rates for new buyers have reached their peak and should “stabilise” in the coming year before dropping in 2025.

But will property prices themselves begin to stabilise or continue to fall?

Read more: Understand the new cycle beginning for property in France