An interview with our collaborator Nicole von Klencke, owner-manager of Unusual Spaces in Berlin. She personally advises clients who seek high-end real estate tailored to their specific needs. 1.    What are your customers typically looking to buy? Our customers want something special, so we offer only architecturally-interesting or exclusive properties with a fascinating history. […]

Renting your apartment to a film company as a location or for a photo shoot can be rewarding. How do you go about it and what are the issues?

The way Paris looks today owes much to Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, Prefect of the Seine in the mid-19th century. The long, straight boulevards, magnificent open spaces and elegant façades that are everyone’s image of modern Paris arose from the ashes of tortuous medieval alleyways and overcrowded slums. Few houses had running water and disease was […]

Today, 21 million citizens of non-European Union (EU) countries live in a member state of the EU. Growing cross-border mobility and property ownership mean that beating a path through the jungle of inheritance law is becoming ever more necessary.

Real estate transactions in France are subject to stamp duty, which the buyer pays. The rate is currently 5.09% of the price of the property and breaks down into: A departmental (county) tax of 3.80%. Paris is classified as a county. A communal (municipal) tax of 1.20%. Each arrondissement (district) of Paris counts as a […]

Paris notaires (officials who handle property transactions) recently issued figures for real estate sales during the 3rd quarter of 2013. Real estate prices in Paris overall have seen a fall of 2.1% during the past 12 months but, in the 3rd quarter, they were slightly up on the same quarter in 2012. The average price […]

In August, we reported on the much-welcomed tax relief on real estate sales, which was immediately applied to any sale finalized after September 1, 2013. The changes were intended to offset the government’s wholesale revision of the capital gains tax laws in 2012, which had discouraged property owners from selling and thus significantly curbed the […]

In recent decades, bricks and mortar have proved the surest bet for a profitable investment over a 10-year period, according to a recent study. Real estate ranked ahead of shares in the CAC 40 (France’s top companies listing), gold and other favorite French investments, such as life insurance and the Livret A savings account.

The average price per sale of French properties to non-residents increased by 5% in 2012 over 2011, although transaction volumes contracted. Non-residents have their main residence outside France and are liable for taxation in their country of residence.

Apartment buildings are subject to shared co-ownership expenses (charges de copropriété). Co-owners in Paris pay on average 48.9 euros/m2 per year for a building with all of the amenities below. For a 50m2, this adds up to 2,445 euros per year. But it’s worth noting that many buildings do not have the full range of […]