France 'offers better growth potential than the UK'

France's housing market has been commended for offering better growth potential than Britain.

First-time buyer Oliver Richards decided to buy a property in the European country after realising he could not afford to get on the housing ladder in the UK.

Speaking to the Independent, he said has therefore decided to snap up a cheaper property overseas.

This will be used as a buy-to-let residence and holiday home, while the returns from his investment should hopefully go towards purchasing a property in Britain.

Mr Richards commented: "The place has great potential for growth."

He added that this contrasts sharply with the UK at the moment, as the outlook for the British market is "pretty gloomy" at the moment.

The country was recently flagged up as a potentially lucrative market for overseas property buyers by Shelter Offshore.

According to the website, 82 million foreign leisure travellers visited it in 2007, which means buy-to-let investors could benefit from high demand for rental accommodation.