Construction companies are banking on “the start of a recovery” in 2016, with a projected increase of 0.9% in their activity, mainly driven by the construction of new housing. Construction of housing residences (for senior, students or within the tourism industry) exploded in the third quarter of 2015, growing by 34% to 5,600 units, according […]

Marilyn Benichou, Senior Counsel of Paris law firm De Gaulle, Fleurance & Associés explains some changes to French regulations about capital gains tax that apply to non-residents. From January 1st 2015, the French government introduced a number of changes to the capital gains tax regime, by means of the revised Finance Law 2014 and the […]

We reported recently on the government’s flagship piece of legislation on housing and property rentals: the loi ALUR/Duflot. The French Parliament had passed the law but right-wing senators and members of Parliament referred it to the Constitutional Council on the grounds that parts of it might be anti-constitutional.

This is the first in a series of posts looking at major projects that are enhancing parts of Paris and restoring others to their former glory.  The redevelopment of the former wholesale food market, les Halles de Paris, in the 1st arrondissement (district) continues apace. Part of the makeover includes an undulating glass canopy to […]

One of the French government’s flagship laws has been censured on the grounds that parts of it may be anti-constitutional. The law would have altered key aspects of rental agreements, including short-term rentals.

Things are heating up in Paris as we approach the municipal elections in March. As part of her pitch, Socialist Party candidate for Mayor Anne Hidalgo is supporting a proposal to transform Avenue Foch into a pedestrian zone.

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 […]

If courtiers of the Sun King, Louis XIV, came back today they would be astonished at the changes time has wrought on the City of Light. Not only has the architectural face of Paris altered but real estate ownership has also been transformed.

Financial regulators and rating agencies have named France the strongest real estate market in Europe.  According to reports by the Joint Forum and Standard & Poor’s, that strength is primarily due to two French banking trends in particular: a large number of secured loans, and strict lending criteria.

President Hollande has made good on his promise to pull back on the dramatic increases in taxes imposed on property sales in France over the last two years.  In releasing the details of the new plan, Budget Minister Bernard Cazeneuve cited the “perverse effects of the current system,” specifically the significant decrease in the volume […]