How has France been affected by the global economy?
The general economy in France has been affected very similarly to the rest of Western Europe. However unlike the UK, Spain and Ireland the French economy’s performance has not been as closely linked to the performance of the property market. As a general rule the French property market has grown well, but not spectacularly over the past 10 years. More importantly this growth has been sustainable and hasn’t been exaggerated by excessive lending provided by French banks. The result of this is that we haven’t seen the significant house price falls in France that have been seen in many other markets and the French lenders are in a much stronger position to provide mortgages and finance to prospective buyers in the future. Is there a strong ex-pat community? France is an incredibly popular country for UK-based second home owners. As a general rule the south of the country (on both coasts and across the central southern region) and the Alps are the most popular areas for UK buyers, however N
