France ‘immune’ to the credit woe?

Despite worldwide property gloom, France seems to be soaring, according to VEF…

A number of places have been mentioned as possible hotspots in the country. Last year plenty of attention was paid from many quarters to the north of the country due to the arrival of the new Eurostar service, which cuts 20 minutes off the journey times between London and Paris, while the government under Mr Sarkozy was keen to boost property investment and make France a nation of homeowners.

One of the key locations in the south of the country which has been mentioned more than once is Languedoc-Roussillon. Property investment portal Homesworldwide.com said that property prices had been tipped to rise this year, with statistics from the Association of the Notaires de France showing that a couple of departments in the region, Gard and Herault, had been doing particularly well.

Among the most notable trends here were an 18 per cent rise in resale apartment prices, a 15 per cent appreciation for houses and a five per cent increase for new builds.

Low cost flights boost

Property consultant Phillipa Pignat of Chestertons International told the website: "Languedoc is attracting an increasing number of international purchasers, partly due to the number of airports working in collaboration with low cost airlines". The site adds to this that the region is served by no less than five airports and one of them, Beziers, is about to start a new route to and from Bristol.

If Languedoc is carrying a torch for the south of France, Bordeaux on the Atlantic Coast is another location tipped for a bright year.

Reporting on the city, Finance Daily stated that experts believe foreign investors will help push up prices in the city, particularly in the suburbs where British buyers are already said to have raised the local values of homes. (The central areas of the city remain occupied mainly by French householders).

Thus there are a number of locations where those looking to invest in property across the channel appear to have good opportunities. Those credit crunch clouds may look a lot less threatening over France's hotspots.