Is this the Paris Property Market's Rebirth?

By November 2017, Paris property prices had reached a new record high: house buyers now had to find a record-breaking 9,000 euros per square metre on average, if they wanted to become the owner of a Paris property. According to the LPI-Se Loger barometer for October 2017, properties in twelve of the French capital's arrondissements or districts cost 9,165 per square metre.

Indeed, all of Paris' twenty arrondissements recorded significant price increases with an average annual rise of at least 8%.

Brexit, so both Bloomberg and The Financial Times reported, was also helping "to push Paris property prices towards record levels". Britons desperate to gain a permanent foothold in an EU country applied in record numbers for French passports - and sought a home in Paris. A recent report by French notaries showed that British buyers were especially looking in some of the city's most exclusive districts.

"The number of buyers is rising unstoppably," stated Paris notary Thierry Delesalle, adding that demand was outstripping supply, especially for the best properties in prime areas, "and perhaps because of Brexit."

Britons accounted for 10% of all foreign buyers, making them the second most enthusiastic group of buyers after Italians (17%).

According to industry experts, sales increased by 7% in just one year in Paris and with the French capital set to host the 2024 Olympics, there's no telling how high prices will go for the capital's residential real estate. Demand and sales activity will only increase.

INSEE, the country's official body of notaries, said that the number of sales in France as a whole also reached a record high of 952,000 in the twelve months to end-September and there has been no let up since.

PUBLISHED : 29TH JANUARY 2018