Brits locked out of French second-home market

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by Gill Montia

The credit crisis and fall in the value of sterling has crushed the aspirations of Britons who dream of owning a holiday home in France.

According to Fnaim, the online association of French estate agents, the market for second homes in France is collapsing with properties lingering on the market even in areas such as the Dordogne and Brittany.

Britons are the country’s biggest ex-pat second homeowners, holding 29% of the country’s 260,000 foreign-owned homes, followed by Italians at 14%, the Swiss at 12% and Germans at 11%.

The downturn in the market began in early 2007 and has been accelerating to the extent that Charles Regnauld, a Brittany estate agent, estimates there have been 50% fewer transactions with British clients since the beginning of this year.

A similar picture is reported by Charles Gillooley, the head of Fnaim’s office in the Dordogne, where around 20,000 Britons own second homes.

Mr Gillooley believes the main problem is the 15% fall in the value of the pound against the euro, over the past 12 months.

He adds that the financial crisis has also played its part, making it difficult to secure funding.

Meanwhile in Paris, one estate agent estimates the decline in British and US homebuyers at 20%, since September.