Property in France

In the past few days, 32,000 town halls across France, from Paris to the meanest little village, will have welcomed their mayor, newly or re-elected, for the next six years. Impressively, nearly 70 per cent of the eligible population will have voted in the élections municipales but I am always a little mystified about what actually takes place at the mairies - apart from civil wedding ceremonies and endless drinks parties. Normally, however, they are imposing, easily recognisable buildings and therefore make ideal places for estate agents to meet me in my eternal quest for a new home in France.

QATAR National Hotels Company (QNH) has acquired its third international property in France

A deal-signing ceremony was held in Paris earlier this month between QNH and former owning company AGF Immobilier for the acquisition of the property situated in the heart of the business and commercial centre of Paris, on Rue d’Anjou and Rue de Faubourg Saint-Honore.
QNH paid a total purchase price of 50mn euros. The property will be converted to a five-star hotel and is scheduled to open its doors in mid-2009.
The acquisition is QNH’s second in Europe after the recently acquired 170-room Park Hyatt in Marbella, Spain, and the previous acquisition of a 384-room Renaissance Resort in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
“The newly acquired properties reflect the company’s investment and diversification strategy in well established, prestigious markets,” a spokesperson said.

Real estate authors from Paris

Hi, this is Tam Tree, hope you like the Paris real estate news blog.

I need real estate authors from Paris to help me coverage the central paris area.

Please send email if you like to participated in this effort. Thanks a lot !

tamtree@gmail.com

One of the most beautiful buildings in Nice

The four-level Belle Époque palace, on Boulevard Victor Hugo in the center of Nice, was built in 1908 for a Swiss industrialist and his family. It now is divided into six apartments — each of impressive size — and the Zeidans have parts of three levels, including a large kitchen in the basement.

The second-floor neighbor lives in what was once the ballroom. The top-floor apartment, created from the reception rooms that were the artistic showpiece of the home, is on the market for 1.35 million euros, or a little more than $2 million. The other units, Ms. Connolly said, are each about 250 to 300 square meters (2,690 to 3,229 square feet) and worth nearly 1 million euros ($1.58 million).

French landlords are demanding sexual favours from tenants ?

The BBC and Libé tie the stories into the broader issue of the French housing crisis. Property prices in Paris have soared in recent years, like those in most other European cities. Paris being more strictly limited geographically and politically than other cities (only the twenty arrondisements of Paris are the city proper, housing around 2.5 million people: The surrounding Paris region is home to another 8 million - but these do not merit the status of Parisians. As it is impossible to build upwards in the capital, housing is finite: This is made worse by the fact that thousands of apartments lie empty. Jeudi Noir, the militant housing pressure group which the BBC references in its report, advocates forcibly opening these empty properties to house needy families and individuals: Even moderate associations, including the Mayor of Paris's office, want to ensure that empty flats are used.

Largest real estate event kicks off in France

The International Property Market (MIPIM) conference kicks off in Cannes, France today. MIPIM, which is the world's largest commercial property event and held this year for the 19th time, will wrap up Friday. More than 28,000 delegates from 85 countries are expected to participate in the event this year. Visitors include individual and institutional real estate investors, architects, city designers, property consultants, construction and hotel groups and municipal decision makers.

The largest stands in the exhibition area are the stands of London and Russian regions.

In addition, numerous other construction projects are exhibited at the fair. These include innovative towers, such as the 600 meters high Russia Tower, set to become the highest building in Europe. Several sustainable development projects are also presented.

Investment bank Natixis took a heavier battering

Paris real estate - Full-year profit today was fully in line with the group's guidance last month, when it disclosed 1.22 bln eur in writedowns due to its exposure to the subprime loan and monoline insurer crises.

However Jean-Pierre Lambert of Keefe Bruyette & Woods said excluding writedowns, fourth-quarter figures showed the corporate and investment banking model is under pressure.

Lambert also highlighted a potential risk of further writedowns, given that the bank seems active in commercial real estate and no disclosure has been given on CDO or monoline exposure.

19th century chateau on 6800m² of enclosed park, Saone et Loire, France

Description: This nice 19th century chateau in the heart of the vineyard offers about 1300 m² of living space on 4 levels. Needing decoration, perfect basic structure and roof. Outbuildings : garage, workshop, playground. Well, cellar.
6800 m² of closed park . Possibility for business.

Shares in real estate trust Hammerson PLC rose sharply Monday

Hammerson specializes in office and retail property in the U.K. and France and operates as a Real Estate Investment Trust, or REIT, in both countries.
CEO Richards said the French market remains strong. He said that although "France will not be entirely insulated from the economic slowdown," it is "a far more robust market" and "values are stable but not falling."
He said the Paris office market is "much more diversified in terms of the spectrum of occupiers" than the City of London and also benefits from "very rigorous planning controls" which lead to constrained supply. France accounts for 28% of Hammerson's business by value.