Dordogne property market update

IT COMES as no surprise to hear that transactions are down considerably on the same time last year.

Fewer houses, particularly new builds, are being sold leading to an oversupply of around 110,000 new homes across France.

Older properies for sale in the Dordogne fared better. 

The summer is traditionally a quiet time for the housing market in the Dordogne for several reasons.  However, the end of summer has seen a marked increase in overseas buyers. It's early days but the trend looks set to continue on the back of an underperforming British economy.

The gap between the euro and sterling gets wider as the weeks go by. The British Chancellor, Alistair Darling, has suggested that Britain are on course for the worst recession in 60 years. Analysts predict that £1 sterling will be worth 1 euro within 12 months.

Buyers who had been biding their time, either for the French property market to bottom out or for sterling to recover against the euro, have now come off the fence in the realisation that neither is likely to happen anytime soon.

With sterling getting progressively weaker, and for the first time against the dollar, they don't believe there is any sense in waiting for the French property market to bottom out. Arguably, the right strategy when rates are favourable, otherwise not.

There is no shortage of demand for Dordogne property right now. Buyers are anxious to get their money out of the UK and into the eurozone.

Sellers have had a wake up call too. Widespread price reductions in property for sale in the Dordogne have become commonplace since the end of the first quarter. 

Assuming estate agents can keep the market supplied with reasonably priced, good quality product, we should begin to see a newly stimulated property market in the Dordogne for the third quarter.