IL Postcard

Did You Know a Paris Apartment Could Be This Cheap?

Date: 06/03/2008 Author: Leigh Fergus

Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Paris, France

Read more about France in International Living Postcards—your daily escape

As a long-term investment, Paris property is low risk and has always appreciated steadily. Give or take a small bubble bursting in the mid-1980s and late 1990s, it’s not a speculative market. Property prices for the city as a whole rose a healthy 8.7% in 2007—good enough to attract hard-nosed investors and romantics.

Paris is a city of dreams. Nowhere else in the world exerts the same charm or attracts as many visitors. Every year more than 80 million tourists come to tread the well-worn cobbles by the Louvre, browse the booksellers’ wares on the banks of the Seine, or get dazzled by the Eiffel Tower at night. With unique selling points such as these, Paris property will always hold its value.

One district to consider for investment purposes is the 17th arrondissement in the northwest of the city, particularly the Batignolles-Epinettes section. While the Rome, Villiers, and Monceau quarters have long attracted well-to-do families, it’s the blue-collar section to the north that’s likely to see the most appreciation in the next five years. Formerly a solid industrial sector with factories and workshops (it’s not going to win any beauty prizes right now), Batignolles is primed to get a massive facelift—and the property market here is set to boom. Paris city hall has big plans for the area.

The first phase of a major new park is already finished, and other projects in the 7-hectare site include the covering over of the freight train lines and the construction of a new school, crèche, offices, shops, and homes here, as well as improving links with the rest of Paris. Delivery is expected in 2010, but prices are already starting to rise in Batignolles and the districts touching it in anticipation of the improved living conditions. In Epinettes, just a few blocks away, properties can be up to $2,200 per square meter cheaper than in Batignolles, where it’s $9,000 per square meter—but these prices are unlikely to stay so low for long.

Another district I forecast to rise in value —and will also appeal to the romantic —is the area around the Canal St. Martin in the 10th, southeast of the Gare de l’Est. Although Métro stations in this area seem harder to locate, the improved boulevard Magenta has made access by bus and car easier, and the cycle paths along the canal are bringing more people here. You can see children playing pingpong and enjoying a ride on the swings in the canal-side gardens after school, there’s a small organic market on Sundays, and a growing number of hip wine bars, cafés, and boutiques are opening. This is an authentic Paris quarter that is great to live in and is only just getting into its stride—appreciation has grown 100% over the past five years, and with the square meter at $8,000, there’s room for improvement in the coming years. Check out property on Rue des Vinaigriers and its immediate surroundings—this road is undergoing a serious renaissance and you’ll find repainted facades, design agencies, and boutiques replacing the kebab bars and dilapidated buildings.

Era Beaux Repaires agency had a beautifully restored one-bedroom apartment of 345 square feet just 50 yards from the canal for €231,000 ($358,000). And a few weeks ago I found a 25-square-meter studio here —also through Era Repaires —for €122,000 ($189,000).

Leigh Fergus
Europe Editor, International Living

Read related articles:

- The Low Property Prices in This Corner of Paris Won't Last Long

- French Coastal Properties: 19.6% off

- Get a Luxury Apartment in Paris for $134,000