Mortgage interest rates in France remain at their lowest for years at around 3%. French property experts consider that this helped to sustain the market for older properties (as opposed to new construction) in 2013.

Properties in Paris are traditionally marketed by price per square meter. Now FNAIM, the trade association for realtors in Paris and the Ile-de-France region, has developed an interactive real estate map. This allows you to identify the arrondissements (districts) that have properties in the price range and of the type you’re looking for.

The City of Paris owns a substantial slice of the City of Light. Taking its lead from the French government, in 2013 City Hall listed and disclosed the extent of its real estate. It holds five million square meters of property – equivalent to around 17.4% of Paris’s total built real estate.

This grand 4 bed, 3 bath, is well located in the Notre-Dame-des-Champs neighborhood, between the Luxembourg gardens and Saint-Placide.

Good news for real estate buyers in Paris: the City of Paris has decided not to increase its share of stamp duty on property sales as of March 1st 2014. That portion of stamp duty will remain at 3.8% of the purchase price instead of rising to 4.5%.

Mortgage rates in France have been at historic lows in recent months. However, the outlook for the next move in interest rates has changed markedly over this period. During the summer of 2013, commentators expected French mortgage rates to rise before the end of the year. In the early fall, this was pushed out to […]

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?

In central Paris you are rarely more than 500 meters (1/3 mile) from a métro (subway) station – it’s one of the densest subway systems in the world. Since using the subway is such a convenient way of getting around the city, closeness to a station is a factor influencing property prices.

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 […]