Luxury real estate in France broke records in 2021

"It really was the year that broke all records," said Alexander Kraft, CEO of Sotheby's International Realty France, to AFP. "2020 was already a very good year, this development continues in full force in 2021, and it continues even until today".

Like its competitors in "prestige" real estate Barnes and Daniel Féau, the agency largely beat its record for transactions in France last year: +42% in one year.

For the Paris region alone, compared to 2019, the best year so far, the number of sales jumped 39% for Daniel Féau. Barnes, on the other hand, made 30% more trades than before the pandemic.

"Semi-primary residences"

Figures driven by the desire for greenery and space: at Daniel Féau, the number of sales of houses and mansions with gardens has almost tripled in two years.

"Customers are looking for green spaces, terraces, gardens, and when they are in big cities, they go to the outskirts. This is why Hauts-de-Seine and Yvelines have clearly exploded in sales of houses and sales of apartments with terraces", testifies for AFP Thibault de Saint-Vincent, president of Barnes.

“People, with the confinements, realized that the place of living was perhaps the decisive factor for the quality of life, and why stay in an apartment if you can have more greenery and more space elsewhere? “, explains Alexander Kraft.

Hence the craze for properties located far from Paris, while prices are stagnating in the capital.

Barnes observes that sales and prices have "exploded" on the Atlantic coast, the Basque coast or in Deauville, with properties going for 3, 5 or even 10 million euros.

The agency's "Properties and Castles" department, which is more focused on the countryside, has also "clearly taken on new colors", explains Thibault de Saint-Vincent.

To the point of detecting a phenomenon of "semi-main residences": with the rise of teleworking, owners buy property in the region while keeping a pied-à-terre in the Paris region.

“This is a trend that we saw appear after the first confinement, and it is seen on a global level: we have New Yorkers who are going to settle in Florida or in the Hamptons (coast east of New York, Ed), Parisians who are going to settle on the Basque coast …”, observes Thibault de Saint-Vincent.

The French carry the market

Barnes like Sotheby's observe that the gap is widening between impeccable properties, without major defects, and those, even luxury, without terrace or garden, or located on a low floor, or with work to be done.

"Buyers have become more greedy. They don't necessarily want to do major work, restore, renovate... they want to buy properties that are already in good condition, that already have assets such as swimming pools, large, well-equipped kitchens, bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms... and they are ready to pay a price for that", notes Alexander Kraft.

In France, it is still the French who carry the market, he assures. Foreigners "are ready to buy, but obviously there are not many people ready to buy without having visited the property", he explains, estimating between 90 and 95% the share of French people among his customers. last year, compared to around 50% in normal times.

"The French clientele of entrepreneurs, young people working in new technologies, young people who have made very profitable investments in cryptos, is starting to appear", notes Thibault de Saint-Vincent, who however sees foreign clients gradually returning since spring 2021.

Enough to make him predict a "very good year" 2022, although a little below 2021.