UK economy woes could make French property more attractive

The UK economy is suffering in comparison to its European rivals, it has been revealed, which suggests countries such as France and Italy could be viable locations for overseas property investment.

Figures released by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) show that, from a position of relative strength a year ago, the UK economy is now smaller than the French equivalent.

What's more, the Italian economy is set to overtake the UK's in terms of size over the next 12 months given the current rate of the latter's decline.

"An overvalued sterling has inflated the UK's claims to be among the top five world economies," commented CEBR economist Ben Read.

"Where the UK's comparative output 'benefited' from sterling's rapid rise up to 2007, we now see the UK overtaken by France, despite both countries seeing a fairly similar economic performance over the past year."

The UK now has the sixth-largest economy in the world, with the US, Japan, China, Germany and France completing the top five.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy is in London today (Monday, December 8th) to talk with prime minister Gordon Brown about the global economic malaise.

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