News from the Aude

There are a lot of mixed signals out there and different people have different angles on the French property market at the moment. The brits are still buying but not in the numbers that they used to but then again July and August are generally quiet months for the Brits to buy, on the other hand there is still and increasingly more so lots more interest from the Dutch, Germans, Belgians, Swiss and Scandanavian countries but more than ever it's the French. France hasn't really been affected by the credit crunch due to the fiscal regulations that exist, we did see some small protests when the fuel prices were increased but even that's come down again now to a more reasonable level. Strangely we've seen lots of clients with budgets of 1 million plus euros and are just starting to see the spread of Russians starting to come across from the cote d'Azur and they're really holding up and maybe inflating the prices at the top end of the market, saying that there are lots of properties on the market and we are seeing stronger negociating from buyers but within reason. With Languedoc becoming the 4th biggest in France for industry the prices should still see some rise and figures have been quoted at approx. 7% by a respected body of estate agents which is up on last years figures, personally I think this might be a little on the high side and see what the 3rd quarter of the year brings us.