‘Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose’
2018 was certainly a year where the old French adage of ‘the more it changes, the more it stays the same’ has been entirely relevant in the context of French political life. The year started with hugely optimistic claims that under President Macron, France was about to witness seismic cultural and economic change. Inward investment was encouraged, Paris was touted as an alternative to London for the finance and ‘tech’ industries and France was to become the centre of a pan European renaissance. A year later those aspirations and dreams look a little jaded. The ‘gilets jaunes’ protests and the French government’s partial capitulation to them in the form of increased spending and increasing budget deficits has yet again revealed the conundrum that is France. In all things, much remains the same despite significant efforts by the government to change.
We would argue that this is probably a good thing: France will never have a ‘Thatcher’ moment, it is simply not in its DNA; it will change incrementally as it has done over recent years. France is far more, dare we say, Anglo Saxon, than it was 40 years ago as it has been exposed to globalisation. It has adapted slowly, perhaps shrewdly, as its administrators have been careful to retain what maintains France’s strengths while adopting new methods in a French context.
So how does this affect the property market and your decision to buy in France?
The markets in France since the 1970’s have broadly followed the same trajectory as UK. Their direction of travel almost identical but with some critical and crucial differences. Mortgage lending practices in France have always been far more rigid and conservative than the UK. The idea of a 100% loan to value mortgage with an insane salary multiplier is an anathema to French banks. As a result, the peaks and troughs of the market have been more subdued in France than the UK. Prices rise and fall much more slowly than is and has been the case in the UK. As a consequence, buyers of French residential property, assuming they pay the right price in the first place, will have a dull if worthy investment that neither sparkles in good times nor fades dramatically in bad times.
Buying a secondary home in France is usually based on a lifestyle choice rather than a hard-nosed investment decision. Yes, there are maintenance and administrative costs, yes, things will go wrong from time to time and yes, you’ll have to contend with a little French bureaucracy but all that is offset by the simple notion that you will own something that will give considerable pleasure; pleasure you can share with family and friends at any time of your choosing.
We often hear the argument that ‘everyone is renting now’. Well, that’s simply not true. After all, someone must own the houses to be rented! In any event, people who want their ‘own corner of France’ do so because they want something personal and familiar. A property in which they take pride and often as a reward to themselves for many years’ hard work and a result of a long held ambition. An entirely laudable notion.
In a world of social media, 24 hour news and where every political twist and turn is used as an excuse not to do something it is worth noting that quality French property in good locations has always held its intrinsic value over time. In any case what is more valuable? The time with family and friends in a place of your own or the time lost ‘thinking about it’.
Regardless of ‘gilets jaunes’, Brexit or any other supposed existential crisis, property ownership is about much more than prices and the ‘market’. It’s about lifetime experiences and there is no upper limit on the value of those.
In essence, there is no reason to delay a purchase in France if your personal circumstances dictate that you are able to do so.
Ask yourself how you might benefit from delaying? What will have changed in a year?
Probably very little, hence our use of the adage:
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose’
It applies very neatly to French property acquisition.
Happy New Year and best wishes for 2019