Alpine Angels Property Blog

A few weeks ago we reported that there had been a flurry of press releases hitting the headlines claiming that buyers and optimism had returned to the French property market.  We have been doing our own investigations, last week interviewing an expert on the Chamonix property market and this week speaking to a representative from BNP Paribas, the mortgage specialists for France.  
Richard Gonfrier deals with their International Buyers who are looking for mortgages in order to purchase Alpine properties http://alpineangels.net/property-finance.htm.

Alpine Angels: What have mortgage application levels been like so far this year? There have been press reports of an increase in activity.

Richard – BNP Paribas International Buyers: Mortgage application levels are a great indicator of British interest in owning a property in France. And British buyers are still very interested. Our actual business increased 18% in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the first quarter 2009. In terms of demand, since January 2010 there has been an average increase of 30%. British people remain concerned by the state of the Currency Market (and try to borrow the maximum from us to avoid changing their pounds) but they no longer postpone their purchase waiting for a hypothetical pound recovery. The appeal of France seems to be stronger than currency market.

Alpine Angels: Is there a particular type of person who is applying for mortgages, e.g., owner occupiers; first time buyers; investors?

Richard – BNP Paribas International Buyers: Most of our clients buy a property in France for a second home (about 60%). And although they wish to be owner occupiers for their holidays, most of the time they also want the option of a possible rental. Renting out a property is a great way to support the mortgage payments. Equally if the rent is paid in euros and then paid directly off the euro mortgage it avoids the owner changing sterling to repay the mortgage.

About 15% of clients looking for a second home choose the French Leaseback Scheme. Although this scheme is a lot more constraining than the freehold (as you have to rent your property to a Managment Operator for at least 9 years), clients choosing this option can benefit from a VAT refund, which makes their investment cost effective. The rest of our clients  already own their property in France and use our services to perhaps renovate their homes, refinance their mortgages to get a better rate, or because they want to release their equity to invest in another project.

Alpine Angels: Is there a section of the market that is most active?

Richard – BNP Paribas International Buyers: Last year we noticed that demand for properties around 500.000 Euro mark nearly disappeared completely with most applications between the 75K to 250K range. In 2010 this has bounced back to normal and we now have applications covering the full rage of price brackets from 75K up to and in excess of 1.0 million euros. Desire for French property continues! For property of all budgets in the Alps visit:  htt://www.alpineangels.net.

Alpine Angels: Thank you Richard and thank you BNP Paribas International Buyers.
If you would like more information on the range of mortgages and borrowing options available from BNP Paribas International Buyers please follow the link – http://alpineangels.net/property-finance.htm

Not content with just reading the news at Alpine Angels, we wanted to make a bit of our own. We are currently investigating what are neighbours, or at least our local network of industry professionals, have experienced in 2009 / 2010 in terms of property sales. First into bat is Thomas Andrieu from Alps Property, the Chamonix property experts.
He agreed with recent reports of price reductions and felt that prices in Chamonix had reduced by nearly 10% in 2009. Only properties that managed to combine a prime location; top spec facilities; and a reasonable asking price were able to interest buyers and secure a sale.
In Chamonix people were still very much focused on buying in the most popular areas, which means it’s definitely worth savvy buyers looking to smaller resorts on the edge of the popular ski areas for bargains (In fact, Alpine Angels said just as much as few weeks ago in a blog entry just below this (race you to St Gervais? )).
2009 brought waves of both high and low level activity with the ski season proving quiet but the end of the year really picking up. In 2010, after another quiet winter Chamonix sales enquiries are once again on the increase. Since the beginning of March there has been a flurry of enquiries for 2-3 bedroom apartments between 400,000 – 700,000 and chalets between 800,000 – 1,000,000.
The only section of the market that has remained strong throughout has been enquiries for and sales of chalets in excess of 2,000,000. Well the credit crunch certainly does some strange things in the mountains!
Thomas’ prediction for the rest of 2010 is that, in line with the last 6 months of 2009, enquiries will increase. But these enquiries will continue to be for the same type of properties as above. He also thinks there may still be a small decrease in property prices as buyers are not willing to pay asking price. The other factor that will affect sales will be the strength of good old Sterling (GBP).   

Well, here at Alpine Angels we are going to be focusing our personal property searches on everything and anything that falls slightly outside of the norms above. That includes slightly varying our search areas to the borders of where we originally wanted to be, and being more flexible on space and layout.  After all, anything that falls outside of ‘prime property’ in ‘prime locations’ could prove to be a brilliant bargain. 

More news to follow ….

http://www.alpineangels.net