Incredible but true, says Trisha Mason, of property consultants VEF, who even predicts a small growth in the French property market this year. "The French property market remains one of the most stable in the world at the moment," she says. "Mainland Europe continues to hold its own during the credit crunch, with France on target to show growth of 1 percent this year, which is not a lot, but much better than America's and Britain's predictions of recession."
So how has France escaped while its neighbors languish in property market stagnation? Mason explains: "French lenders have traditionally been much more cautious than U.K. and U.S. lenders and although a few banks have been affected by the sub-prime, it has not been a large enough problem to cause any real shortfall in mortgage funds."
To limit risk, French banks usually spread their investments much more widely than those in the U.S. or U.K. Only about a quarter of banking activity is related to investment banking and dealer-broker activity, while the rest is retail banking.
