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November 2007
 Almost 60 per cent of overseas buyers of French property are Brits, according to figures from the Notaires de France (notaires are the legal officials responsible for the conveyancing of all French property transactions).
The research - based on figures from the Notaires de France database - found that British owners retained their properties for around nine years on average.
Want to buy in the same area as your fellow countrymen? Head for the Creuse (the most popular place for Brits buying French homes), the Charente or the Dordogne. Alternatively, if you’d prefer to strike out on your own – well, you know which areas to avoid!
The report does not identify Languedoc-Roussillon as a Brit enclave.
Other interesting facts coming out of the data are:
- Brits tend to hang on to their French homes for an average of nine years
- Sales of homes by Brit owners account for more than seven per cent of property transactions in the Dordogne and Lot
- The average age of British buyers in France is around the forties and fifties mark (outside of Paris, the average of Brit house buyers was 52); many are retired or heading that way
- Brits buy far more houses than apartments
- Apartments bought by Brits are essentially in the Savoie and Haute-Savoie departments and are alpine pads purchased for winters sports breaks
- Brits tend to buy in sparsely populated, rural areas
- Approximately one third of Brits buying in France are acquiring property as their permanent home, or with the intention of relocating to France in the near future
- The average spend amongst the British property buying group, excluding the Paris/Ile-de-France area, is €228,380 (houses) and €228,824 (apartments); compare this figure to the French average property buying budget of €189,249 and you’ll understand why French estate agents are so pleased to see Brits walking through their doors!
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