Property sellers in France set increasingly reasonable prices

The difference between the price a property is advertised for and the final transaction amount remains at an all time low of 4.5% since October, new study finds.

The Orpi real estate network recently published a price gap barometer in conjunction with Le Figaro and Explorimmo. It revealed that after months of continuous decline, the price difference between the advertised price and final selling price of a property had fallen to 4.5% in October, and remained there since.

Across the country, real estate is offered for sale at an average price of 210,070 euros, to finally sell for 200,590 euros. Since only two large cities exceed this average price difference of 4.5% (Nice and Nantes at 5.25% and 5.3% respectively), one can easily deduce that the figure is higher in small towns and rural areas.

The gap is even smaller in Paris and Lyon, where housing sells for figures virtually similar to their initially displayed price (2.55% in Paris and 2.15% in Lyon). In Lyon, the price difference is consistent regardless of property size (rates range from 1.9% for a four bedroom property to 2.5% for a studio).

Conversely, the gap between advertised price and selling price is most varied in Bordeaux, at 1.3% for two bedroom properties and 8.7% where five or more bedroom properties are concerned — discounts reaching 38,900 euros. Over the whole of France, the study finds that price gaps are less significant for smaller areas and larger for properties of five bedrooms or more.

This low rate means that real estate sellers all over the country are being increasingly reasonable when setting prices for their properties. Bernard Cadeau, CEO of Orpi, states that “advertising a property at a reasonable price from the start has the beneficial effect of goods selling a lot faster.” According to Orpi, 50% of homes are now sold in less than 60 days, while last year, the average listing period for properties exceeded 100 days. This has the advantage of increasing the market’s activity by allowing sellers to enter the property purchasing market more quickly.

In Cadeau’s opinion, 2015 has been a good year for real estate: “the market has restarted, our sales volumes are 10% higher than last year’s and prices becoming more realistic have cut selling time in half.” He also believes that this new trend is one that is set to last.

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