Press Release Summary = When he was elected earlier this year, new French President Nicholas Sarkozy promised a major break with the past. With pledges to take on vested interests, get the country working longer hours and transform France into a land of property owners, not to mention a general image as a right-winger not afraid to put some noses out of joint, he was quickly earned the moniker of the French Margaret Thatcher.
Press Release Body = When he was elected earlier this year, new French President Nicholas Sarkozy promised a major break with the past. With pledges to take on vested interests, get the country working longer hours and transform France into a land of property owners, not to mention a general image as a right-winger not afraid to put some noses out of joint, he was quickly earned the moniker of the French Margaret Thatcher.
The new president prefers comparisons with Tony Blair, a man with whom he enjoyed the briefest of working relationships, but the gentleman has shown himself not for turning on his key pledge to end the 35-hour week, with the announcement of tax breaks for those who work overtime, Homesworldwide reports.
According to the article, this move could in itself be the catalyst for the housing market. By stimulating growth - which should then help reduce unemployment - as well as putting more money in the pockets of those who do work longer, the growth in wealth will place an increasing number of people in a position to invest in property in France. With this, so the article contends, will come increases in property values.
In the light of this, some may wonder what this means for buy-to-let investors looking at France as a possible investment. One issue is the question of who investors are renting to. If the market for buy-to-let was all about the domestic market, this could see a significant decline as more and more potential customers end up buying their own property instead.
However, as Hetal Shah of Investors Provident states, the buy-to-let market in France is heavily based on tourism. He stated: \"France has always been a very well known tourist destination,\" adding that it still plays a \"very, very big part\" now. While domestic demand may soar over the next few years if Mr Sarkozy gets his way, Mr Shah offered no reason to believe the tourism market might diminish. The one issue which might arise is that a general rise in property prices could make buying in tourist areas dearer, although this may depend on whether enough homes are built in such areas to meet demand.
Besides this, however, there are other factors that may be considered when gazing into the oracle over the future of the French property market. One of these is the improvement of the French rail networks, with more high-speed lines being built to provide a service that many countries (not least Britain) will envy.
\"I think with the rail link and new infrastructure you probably will see property prices rise [in the areas with improved infrastructure],\" said Mr Shah, although he emphasised that this would not be by vast amounts.
Nonetheless, he added, there surely will be an impact, as he explained: \"Any kind of interest definitely does have an impact because people who have been very sceptical about those areas will start to see that there is more new development coming in and more infrastructure means more money coming in to the area as well.\"
On the other hand, Mr Shah noted, lesser-known parts of France would not suddenly become property hotspots. The evidence, he stated, was that enhanced rail connections had much less of an impact on such locations than low-cost airlines.
In the long run, Mr Sarkozy\'s drive to make France a nation of property owners may succeed and in doing so have an impact in ways that will affect the buy-to-let investor, such as snapping up properties that would otherwise be available to buy and making such buying more expensive. But it remains to be seen if the French buy into the project or remain wedded to a renting culture. Whatever the outcome, investors looking at France still need to consider other factors when choosing where and how to invest.
2025
