France's Gecina dives on Spanish property deal

"Gecina's purchase of a company (Bami) which belongs to its own shareholders can only create uncertainty over the correct value of the deal," said Samuel Henry-Diesbach, analyst at Kepler Capital markets.

The Chairman and Chief Executive of Gecina, Joaquin Rivero, and board member Bautista Soler, together own 31 percent of Gecina as well as 84 percent of Bami.

Gecina's shares closed down 11 percent at 35 euros -- their biggest drop since Dec. 22 -- compared with a 2 percent fall in the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3.

'Buying a Piece of Paris'

"Buying a Piece of Paris," Ellie Nielsen's account of her quest to find the perfect apartment in the French capital, continues a recent trend in popular travel writing that started with the success of Peter Mayle's books about Provence. This led to the literary subgenre of British expatriates recounting how they bought an old house in the south of France or Italy or Spain and fixed it up.

Made up of equal parts of love letters to the adopted country, rueful memoirs and mildly patronizing descriptions of the locals, these travelogues offered lightweight reading for people who couldn't afford European retreats of their own. Now that Provence, Tuscany and Majorca have been pretty well covered, expat writers have turned to their quests to live in the most civilized of cities, Paris.

In France, a Labyrinth of a House

When Susan Herrmann Loomis recently remarked on the “dark” side of her adopted French town, she was referring to the local exorcisms and burnings of two priests accused of witchcraft in 1647.

But she also could have been speaking of the troubled spirits who she suspects inhabit one room of her ancient house, which stands across from a Gothic church in this Norman town about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Paris.

Ms. Herrmann Loomis, a food writer, chef and cooking teacher, lives in a 12th-century house whose rambling layout pairs well with its lengthy history.

IMMOBLIER INFERNO: Moving to Paris

PARIS (Herald de Paris) - If you were properly brought up, you know that Paris is the most beautiful, sophisticated, sexy, and cool place in the world. Therefore, it is only natural that you want to own a piece of it. Besides, hotels are so expensive, and you could always rent the place out when you aren’t living there. So you decide to take the plunge. You gaily tell your friends, “I’m going to buy an apartment in Paris!” It is only when those in the know look at you with pity, that you have the first inkling that you are about to enter…. the IMMOBILIER INFERNO.Immobilier is the French word for real estate. It is analogous to the English word “immobile”.

Houses and land don’t move, unlike the mobilier, the furniture, which does. The French, accustomed as they are to revolutions in their political life, prefer to invest their money in something that appears more likely to last than the latest constitution. This is one reason why Paris real estate prices are what they are. High. Of course, if you live in London or San Francisco or Manhattan, you will think Paris is cheap. Compared to anywhere else it costs a lot. But it is not the price that makes Paris an apartment-buying hell.

It’s the people, as Sartre said.

French c.bank sees hope for recession to end this year

'There are a few reasons which make us think that it is not unreasonable to hope for an end to the recession by the end of the year, ' he said.

Positive growth could creep in at the end of 2009 and be a factor next year, on average, as lower inflation boosted consumption and the effects of monetary policy actions, namely lower interest rates, by the world's central banks were felt.

Moves by many countries to ease monetary policy were already having an impact on the real economy, he said.

Conditions of financing and the property market in France were sound, he said, reiterating that the euro zone's second-biggest economy had emerged relatively well thanks to more conservative lending practices to would-be house buyers.

Metrovacesa Has French Assets Frozen on Dropped Deal

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Metrovacesa SA, Spain’s largest real- estate developer, said its French assets were temporarily frozen by a Paris court after it failed to complete a property purchase.

The court blocked the assets Jan. 13 after Metrovacesa pulled out of the 85 million-euro ($109 million) acquisition of a building in France, according to Ursula Guerra, a spokeswoman for the Madrid-based company. Metrovacesa owns 27 percent of Gecina SA, the largest publicly traded owner of Paris office buildings.

“Metrovacesa has been informed about the measure, but we hope that the temporary embargo will be lifted in coming days,” Guerra said yesterday in a telephone interview. Guerra was responding to questions about the case.