Dordogne property on the rebound but wont recover overnight - Xerfi

THE purge is far from over. After an initial decline of 10% expected in 2009, house prices in the Dordogne and indeed over the whole of France, should continue to decline until 2012, predicts research firm Xerfi.

According to their most recent research,  the current round of price reductions will not be sufficient to wipe out the impact of house price inflation between 2000 and 2008 when prices doubled. Above all, the conditions for market recovery are still not satisfied. "Yes, interest rates have fallen back below 4%, but this is secondary to another critical variable: rising unemployment, especially among the youth," says Alexander Mirlicourtois, director of economic studies at Xerfi .

Acording to Xerfi, the transaction level is still too weak and will not support the price per square meter. "In anticipation of further declines, many sellers now prefer to remove their homes from the sale. For the full year 2009, sales of existing homes should therefore fall by at least 10%, we recently explained Alexander Mirlicourtois.

Figures released yesterday by the notaries of the Ile de France confirms the fragility of the current market with an average value per square metre down over 7% the year.

So, our message to buyers is DON'T PANIC. 

The market is traditionally busier in September after a long and usually quiet holiday season and this year, thankfully, is no different here in the Dordogne.

In light of a protracted slump in the housing market many agencies will use this new surge in activity on the market as a way to pressurise buyers by claiming that prices will imminently rise. Not true. We still have some way to go yet.