From: Richard Faulkner 
Newsgroups: uk.finance
Subject: Re: Lets Crash the Housing Market..First Time Buyers.
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 15:36:31 +0100

In message <43282cfe$0$305$7a628cd7@news.club-internet.fr>, davidof 
 writes
>Tumbleweed wrote:
>>  But FWIW over the last year the Economist says that France has risen 
>>15% to  the UK's 5%, and that since 1997 France has risen 87 to the 
>>UK's 154 ..eg a  half, so maybe the difference between a medium 
>>tsunami and a big one rather  than a swell to a tsunami.
>
>You have to recognise that around half of all French people rent. Not 
>exactly a testament to owner occupation. It currently costs around 20% 
>of purchase price in fees to buy a second hand property, that's estate 
>agents fees of 7% (you have to do a 2 year course and training to be an 
>agent in France) plus notaires fees and stamp duty. This is not exatly 
>great for FTBers. It basically means that most French people, when they 
>eventually get the dosh together to buy will probably stay in that 
>house. Generally you save and save until you finally get a deposit 
>together (you need 25% of the purchase price in France at the moment). 
>You will probably end up living in an apartment.
>
>So what can you get for your money? In the Paris area (where 25% of 
>French people live and work) 1 million euros will get you a nice 3 
>bedroom appartment within the ring road. Somewhere like St Mandé on the 
>outskirts is now around 400,000 euros for a small 2 bed apartment. You 
>really don't want to go much out of the center because the Metro 
>doesn't go that far and you get into the horror of the French surbaban 
>train network, strikes, unreliable services and armed gangs. Prices 
>have doubled in Paris over the last 4 years.
>
>In most big towns the picture is the same Lyon and Grenoble are 
>unaffordable. So is Bordeaux. You have to remember that when house 
>prices rose 87% in France wages were pretty much static and that from a 
>low base... a school teacher or policeman would earn less than 20K / 
>year in France after 10 years service compared to well over 30K / year 
>in the UK (38K / yr for a police constable if anyone wants the figures).
>
>But you can figure for yourself, if 50% of the population is letting 
>houses or flats, then there are a lot of people who own property to let.

One strange thing which occurs to me is that landlords in England have 
always been anecdotally seen as sharks and spivs, whereas in Europe, 
renting your home for life was always the norm, (I dont know if it's 
changed), and there doesnt/didnt seem to be the same animosity.

Is it because the English just hate to see someone be successful, and 
love it when they take a fall, a trait which doesnt seem common amongst 
other Europeans..

To be honest, I'm getting a bit f''ing sick of it and will probably move 
to Monaco or somewhere soon.

-- 
Richard Faulkner