For Sale in...Paris

550,000 Euros ($730,000)

This one-bedroom one-bath walkup apartment is set above a shop in the Arts et Métiers neighborhood of the Marais. It has floor-to-ceiling windows, rough limestone walls and exposed wood posts and beams. The 880-square-foot (82-square-meter) apartment occupies the entire second floor of a five-story building.

The sunny living room, which overlooks a quiet street, is laid with traditional hexagonal tiles made of terra cotta, called tomettes. The kitchen has modern wood cabinets, white ceramic tiles and space for a small dining table. Toward the back of the apartment, behind French doors, is a cozy bedroom with a walk-in closet and a window that overlooks the courtyard of the building next door.

French weaknesses help to cushion recession

PARIS — France has avoided the property crash that has hit Spain, it has not suffered as much as export champion Germany and its consumers have not been crippled by the kind of debt that has tied British shoppers down.

But the very qualities that have shielded France from the worst of the crisis are likely to mean it will take longer to pick up once recovery sets in, underscoring the need for President Nicolas Sarkozy to push through structural reforms aimed at making the economy more dynamic.

“The French economy and, above all, the French consumer appear to be relatively resilient in the presence of shocks,” said Elga Bartsch, chief European economist at Morgan Stanley.

French Property Market Update: A Moderate Price Reduction but no Risk of a Property Crash

The last market review published by the Fédération Nationale de l'Immobilier (FNAIM), which is the French National Federation of Real Estate Agents, confirmed the general trend with price reductions during the 1st quarter of 2009 but emphasise on the fact there is no risk of a property crash.


The last market review published by the Fédération Nationale de l'Immobilier (FNAIM), which is the French National Federation of Real Estate Agents, confirmed the general trend with price reductions during the 1st quarter of 2009 but emphasise on the fact there is no risk of a property crash.

According to an internal survey carried out by the FNAIM (260 estate agents participated to it), their turnover for the 1st quarter of 2009 is down by an average 30% compared to the 1st quarter of 2008. An article published in the French newspaper "Le Monde" (mentioning the FNAIM market report and a report from the French notaires) indicates that the notaires activity in 2008 decreased by 20% compared to the previous year. The whole resale market decreased by 17%, from 802,000 in 2007 to 667,000 in 2008. New build sales dropped by 37.6% (79,400 in 2008 against 127,300 in 2007).