What’s wrong with the property agents in France?

property agents in franceProperty agents in France are having to deal with  big problem. Almost 50% of the real estate transactions in France is done ‘entre particuliers’. This means that buyers and sellers find each other, negotiate and close the transaction without the intervention of a professional realtor. Only the signing of the contracts is, of course, done at the notary’s. In any case 50% private sales is a lot more than in neighbouring countries, where the involvement of a property broker is standard practice. In the Netherlands, for instance, only a few per cent of the deals go through without an agency. How can we explain this difference?

Property agents in France – a high price

The most important reason for bypassing the property agents in France is the high prices they charge. Lately there is a bit of a shift downwards under pressure from the market and the Internet, but for a long time you had to pay the ‘agent immobilier’ at least 6%. A broker in Burgundy, with an

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Rapid decline in property prices in France

According to the notaries in France – and they should know because they’ve already seen the preliminary deeds pass through their offices – the property prices in France are going to plummet with 7% in the next two months. Seven percent! In two months!

There are several developments behind this rapid and sudden decline. First of all, several

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The steady fall of property prices in France 2012

News about the development of property prices in France.

In the first trimester of 2012, the big Real estate Agency chain Century 21 has sold 11.4% less houses than in the same period last year. On a national level, the average price went down 2.1%. Prices in Paris stopped going up (-0.1%).

The trend is still down. Of course we have to realise this downward movement of the last years comes after more than a decade of continuous rises, which some say created a bubble in the French property market. And not just in France. In the Netherlands, for instance, it seems houses are overvalued by a whopping

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