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Studies and Taxes
The non-residents buyers in 2005 - 6% in France, 20% on the
French Riviera
 In
France, in 2005, the non-residents buyers represent 6% of
the total number of buyers and they are more and more each
year. On such a very active and booming market, the share of
the non-resident has increased by 50% within the past 6
years (they reached only 4% in 1998), thus representing
about 30,500 transactions for a total revenue of 6 billion
euro.
The French expatriates counted for than 2 out of 10 of the
non-resident buyers (23%), meaning about 7,000 transactions.
Then 77% of the non-resident buyers were foreigners.
British buyers are the most numerous among the non-resident
foreign buyers and the figure is increasing every year (48%
in 2005), contrary to Italians (10% in 2005). The Italians
are less numerous (they represented 30% in 2003), while
there are more buyers coming from Benelux (13% compared with
5% in 2003) and coming from Germany (3%) as their economy is
doing pretty well nowadays. Germans just started to reinvest
in France. 60% of the foreign buyers are investing in
properties to be rented.
40% are buying a second home for week-ends and holidays.
In all cases, the foreign buyers are usually customers
having a higher purchasing power than the average French
customers. They seal transactions close to 220 000 €
(compared with an average of 170 000 € for the French
buyers).
The British citizens, the Belgians, the Spanish or Dutch
buyers do invest usually a little bit less than the average
of the foreign non-resident buyers (less than 200 00 €
average.
The foreign buyers are usually 48 years old, 39% are senior
managers.
The youngest investors are coming from Luxembourg (less than
40 years old average), from Spain, Portugal or Switzerland
(40/45 years old average)
Data from Crédit Foncier de France based on the
statistics of Perval- Notaries of France
Investments made by the non-residents 20% of the
transactions on the French Riviera
N°1 – The Italians : 45% of the transactions made by the
non-residents
- 1 million of tourists every year,
- accounts for 21,000 owners of second homes
N°2 : the British citizens : 20% of the transactions made by
the non-residents
- they own 4,000 second homes in the Alpes-Maritimes.
N°3 : The Irish : with 7% of the transactions, with a
significantly increased figure.
N°3 at the same level: the French expatriates
N°4 : the Nordic citizens.
How to avoid bad surprises as far as taxes are concerned
Because of lower prices for real estate and the attraction
of the French lifestyle, many non-residents do invest in
France and one out of four acquisitions will finally turn
out to be their main residence.
To buy a property in France will bring you better
opportunity to get a good reselling profit, much better than
in many other European countries. To be successful in the
long term in such investment, the buyer who is a
non-resident must be aware of the possibilities to lower his
tax exposure.
« Each case has to be screened carefully depending on the
targets, the priorities and the constraints of the buyer and
also depending on the kind and value of the property
involved.
Before investing through a corporation, the non-resident
investor should be fully aware of the main consequences of
his choice all along the lifetime of his investment as well
as at the time of reselling, such consequences being rarely
reversible.
And at last, for each case, the tax agreements between
France and the country of residence of the buyer are to be
investigated, sometimes also depending on the nationality of
the buyer. »
The border areas as well as the touristic regions are not
the only one to be affected
Usually, the non-residentslike to buy in the touristic
regions : more than 12% of them bought a property in the
Alpes-Maritimes,10% in Paris and 5% in Haute-Savoie (it
means 8 to 10,000 transactions). These regions are also the
most expensive in France. Maybe this is why the foreign
buyers do consider nowadays investing more and more in other
regions of France like in Brittany, Limousin or the Pyrénées
(Atlantiques or Orientales. In these regions the share of
the non-resident buyers is close to 15%
In the Limousin, and shoots up to 25% in the Creuse and 19%
in Charente.
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