Prime Paris property with rue la-la

Rules for buying in France

The will-they-won’t-they drama over relaxing visa rules for British-passport holders who own French properties was settled, at least for the foreseeable future, in January with a firm non from France’s constitutional court. As it stands, non-EU residents can spend only 90 days in every 180 in the 27 Schengen Area countries without a visa. Days are calculated counting backwards from the day of entry on a rolling basis: stay for 90 days continuously and you cannot re-enter for another 90. Last December, the French parliament approved a raft of immigration measures that included allowing British owners of French property more flexibility on how they used their annual 180 days, a short-lived victory as it turned out. Campaigners vow to try again with a slimmed-down immigration bill, but legal experts believe that passing a visa exemption applicable to only British property owners will be a long and rocky ride. Obtaining a visa for longer stays, without moving permanently, requires an annual visit to Manchester, Edinburgh or London for biometric data collection and collating bank statements and proof of residency.

The Haussmann market

Paris property is a tale of two markets. While the mainstream market saw price falls of six per cent in 2023, Knight Frank figures show that prime properties over €4mn recorded increases of 2.5 per cent. The biggest falls were in the north and east, the 10th, 11th and 18th arrondissements – areas that had recent price booms.

It’s a flight to quality where buyers (aware that building costs have spiked by a third in the past two years) want renovated, turnkey homes. Private equity funds and boutique developers have stepped up, adding ensuite bathrooms, air conditioning and floor plans suited to contemporary living to elegant but often impractical Haussmann properties. Knight Frank’s Parisian associates Junot Fine Properties sold seven of these fully furnished projects last autumn, most in the 7th, 8th or 16th arrondissements and all off-market at full asking prices of €6mn to €35mn.

Room with a vue

Hôtels particuliers have fuelled prime-property price increases in Paris: the grand 17th- and 18th-century mansions soared in value last year by 6.4 per cent. Last year two of these trophy assets sold in the leafy 16th arrondissement, through Junot Fine Properties together with Knight Frank, for between €50mn and €80mn each.

While French buyers focus primarily on location, international buyers – including increasing numbers from the US, Middle East, China and Taiwan – want views and outside space. Junot sells equal numbers of properties to domestic and international buyers, and 75 per cent of the homes it sold in 2023 had a garden or large terrace; 45 per cent came with a view of the Eiffel Tower; and 42 per cent of all apartment sales were penthouses, demonstrating the universal romantic appeal of those zinc Parisian rooftops.

What’s in a name?

Dubai has 103, London has 20 and even Panama has five. The numbers of branded residences have grown by more than 160 per cent in the past decade, yet Paris remains an outlier with not one scheme among its grand boulevards and cobbled streets. It’s not for want of trying, says Riyan Itani, founder of Global Branded Residences Ltd, who has conducted feasibility studies on several projects.

The reasons they fail to fly include the difficulties of finding suitably sized buildings and obtaining agreement to sell from multiple occupants, many with secure tenure, coupled with high purchasing and renovation costs. The nearest branded residence scheme to the French capital is Six Senses Residences at Les Bordes Estate, with its famous golf course, in the Loire Valley, where sales of the first 12 of 52 three- to seven-bedroom homes, priced €2.57mn to €8.18mn, began in December 2023.

An Olympic bounce

How are Parisians preparing for the Olympics? With a nonchalant bof and a Gallic shrug at best, it would seem. Polls show that more than half are considering leaving the city (well, it will be July-August), while Paris’s socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo has issued gloomy warnings over the shortcomings of the transport system. That’s despite Paris being home to Europe’s largest transport-infrastructure project, a 15-year scheme that began in 2015 and aims to double the size of the Métro.

The Grand Paris Express will add four new lines, 68 stations and 200km of track. But Parisians could have plenty to thank the games for if PwC and the Urban Land Institute’s predictions are accurate. Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2024 puts Paris second only to London as the European city with the best prospects for investment and development, citing its liquidity, resilience and the positive effect of the Olympics on a city that’s already the world’s favourite tourist destination.

Holding the torch

The Olympic opening ceremony on 26 July will be the first held outside a stadium. Instead, the Seine will be the focus as the athletes set off by boat at exactly 20.24 (très drôle) on a 6km route from Austerlitz Bridge to the Trocadéro. The main Olympic venues are concentrated around Saint Denis to the north but key water events – including open-water swimming – will be held on the Seine, where public bathing was officially banned in 1923. Attendance figures for the opening ceremony were cut back in January for security reasons, adding further value to any property with prime riverfront views.

A view of the river or a prized landmark such as the Eiffel Tower can add a 30 per cent premium to sales over a comparable home, despite apartments with a view of the Seine generally also overlooking some of the city’s most traffic-thronged roads. That applies to rentals too. Private office and real estate brokers Vingt Paris quote examples of €200,000 to €300,000 for a three-week stay in an exclusive fully catered and staffed apartment. A further incentive for the city’s residents to vacate their homes this summer.