Buying French real estate: how to find a good notaire for your purchase
Plus, the latest French property trends from the Notaires of France quarterly report
Before I jump into the latest real estate trends from France, which comes from the Notaires of France office, let’s talk about what a notaire is and how they are involved in real estate in France.
Though the name sounds similar to the American notary, a notaire is something else entirely. They play a much larger role in French life than an American notary, and it’s good to know a bit about what they do if you plan to buy/sell/donate property here, get married, set up a will, etc.
What is a notaire in France and what do they do?
A French notaire in the context of real estate is a Ministry of Justice approved attorney who oversees a transaction, including the title transfer and calculation and payment of taxes (both property and inheritance). They are fundamentally a real estate attorney, and their role is to handle the legal aspect of any purchase, sale or donation.
French properties are sold “as-is,” which makes notaires crucial in any transaction. In addition to overseeing the transaction paperwork and taxes, they also pull together all the documents related to the sale (searches on the title, surveys, diagnostic tests). They can answer any questions you have about the buying process. Their fees are fixed by the government and calculated on a scale.
In addition to real estate, they also handle contracts related to family affairs (inheritance, marriage, etc) and commercial affairs. If you are planning a life in France, you will need a good notaire at several points in your life, so it’s worth finding a good one. This map below shows where notaires are located throughout France (Paris region has the most.)
How a notaire can help you
Having a notaire is not optional for real estate transactions in France, but having a good notaire can make the difference between a good and bad investment in the long run. Here’s an example from our own experience.
When we decided to make an offer on a home several years ago, the seller kept encouraging us to use their notaire to “speed up the process.” We politely declined because we had our own notaire, and we felt it would be a conflict of interest if their notaire represented both sides.
Once our notaire finished their preliminary research, which included pulling all property-related documents from the local mairie (town hall), they alerted us to a significant issue with the title that neither the seller nor their notaire disclosed. Suddenly it made sense why the seller was encouraging us to use their notaire. They were hoping we would miss the issue. We immediately pulled out of the transaction and got our full 10% cash deposit back. And we only had to pay a few hundred euros to our notaire for the preliminary research work they had done. We seriously dodged a bullet.
That’s just one example of how a good notaire, one that only represents you, can make a difference. Not all notaires are created equally, so be sure to choose wisely.
How to find a notaire
The best way to find a notaire is to ask for recommendations and go through trusted sources. If you have contacts in France you trust, ask them for a referral.
If you don’t speak French, make sure that you work with a notaire who speaks your native language so that documents can be explained and translated for you. Keep in mind that the final reading of the documents must be in French, whether or not your notaire is bilingual. So your friend may have a great notaire, but if they can’t translate anything for you, they will work with a court-approved translator and charge for that on top of their notaire fee.
There are plenty of bilingual notaires, and you can find them listed on the Notaires of France website. Luckily, this website is in both French and English. From the main website homepage, click on the Official Directory button at the top right and select your preferred Spoken Languages (see photo above). It’s a great resource for information on buying real estate in France.
As a bonus for being an annual subscriber, we have a short list of recommended notaires (including bilingual ones). Just send us an email from the email address you subscribe with and we’ll share it with you.
Real Estate Trends in France
Now that you know what notaires do, it makes more sense that they put out the quarterly report on real estate trends!
Let’s look at the most recent one from July 2024. The report covers both anciens (old) properties and new build properties, but we’ll just focus on old homes because that’s what we love.
Overall, prices are still dropping across France. Sales prices have been influenced by rising inflation, increased interest rates and political instability. Île-de-France (IDF), which includes Paris, has seen the most significant price drop year over year, with apartment prices down 7.9% and home prices down 8.4%.
Metropolitan France property prices have dropped 5% y/y and rural properties have reduced around 4% y/y depending on the property type.
As you can see here, the price per square foot drops significantly once you make it out of Paris. While the price per square meter has notably dropped below 10,000 EUR in Paris, most other regions in France have also softened, though not as significantly.
Compared to Paris, where an apartment costs roughly 10,000 EUR/square meter, Marseille is roughly 3,000 EUR/square meter and Nice is 4,700 EUR/square meter.
Similarly, the sales prices of older homes in Paris dropped significantly (8.3%) year over year, while sales prices in areas of the South of France (Marseille, Toulon, Nimes) dropped less significantly.
As everyone returns back to work in September, it will be an important time to see what happens with transactions. Some experts believe that the market will begin to stabilize as prices have decreased to match the lower demand. Sales volume and prices will also be influenced by interest rates. If interest rates are lowered, the buyers who were waiting on the sidelines to be able to afford more home for their money will enter the market. On verra ! (We’ll see!)