Dordogne not at the races when it comes to how the other half live in France

THE Wealth Report 2008 is out. Published last week, the report looks at where the rich are spending their money on real estate.

Of particular interest in this years report is that there are two French towns in the top five most expensive places to buy property in the world. It looks at prestige property purchases by buyers whose personal assets exceed $10 million.

Maybe not surprisingly, London still tops the list for luxurious residential property at 46,000 € / m2.

Monaco is in second place (43,740 € / m2) followed closely by St-Jean Cap Ferrat (43 490 € / m2) and Courchevel (35 000 € / m2).

St. Tropez (15 650 € / m2) and Paris (13 910 € / m2) are two other french cities on the list in 12th and 16th place respectively.

The report reveals that the upper end of the property market is healthy and continuing to grow. For example, the housing market in St-Jean Cap Ferrat was up 39% on 2007.

"The most notable increases were recorded in emerging countries, particularly in China and Central and Eastern Europe. The second area of strong growth relates to the large global financial centres with an increase in the value of second homes, particularly in France, Italy and the Caribbean.'' commented Liam Bailey, director of the residential property research department at Knight Frank.

The number of new Chinese ten millionaires in 2008 has jumped into second place behind the US at 373,000. That's almost as many Germans, this year amounting to 375,000 with assets of more than $10 million.

The report concludes that the net effect will be a bouyant luxury property market with more rich people around looking to buy prestige property that's in short supply.

On the other hand the Dordogne is nowhere to be seen on the list at a paltry 2,064 € / m2. Oh well.