who could supply me with statistics on the development of house prices
(houses of 300.000 euro and more) in france, if possible region
Luberon (near Aix).
Starting in 2000, ending 2003 or 2004

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Request for Question Clarification by leli-ga on 10 Mar 2004 01:47 PST

Hello jsteinsb

Unfortunately I haven't found any statistics specifically about the
Lubéron, or about French houses at the upper end of the market.

If you're interested in any of the information I describe below,
please let me know and I'll be happy to write up the details for you.

Thanks - Leli

* Data on sales of country houses 1994-2002, département by département.

For each year there are three figures: minimum price paid, maximum
price paid, and average price paid.

For the département which includes the Lubéron, figures are based on
sales of over 600 houses per year for 1999-2002.

* A February 2004 article discussing the Provence second home market,
including the Lubéron, with a professional's opinion on the overall
trend in prices from 2001 onwards.

* Percentage increase in house prices throughout France for 2002 and 2003.

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Clarification of Question by jsteinsb-ga on 10 Mar 2004 09:57 PST

THIS IS FINE: For the département which includes the Lubéron, figures
are based on sales of over 600 houses per year for 1999-2002.

FINE TOO: * A February 2004 article discussing the Provence second home market,
including the Lubéron, with a professional's opinion on the overall
trend in prices from 2001 onwards.

Thanks for your message.

These figures are for country houses in Vaucluse, the département
which includes Lubéron:

Year    number    minimum      maximum      average
	of        price        price        price
	sales     euros        euros        euros
----------------------------------------------------			
2002    614       169 500     1 562 500     261 000
2001    648       166 000     1 363 000     233 500
2000    674       119 500     1 082 500     197 500
1999    636        99 000       897 000     170 500

You can find similar tables for each French département at Pleinchamps.com
http://www.pleinchamp.com/achat/foncier/FON_maison_depart.asp



It is the opinion of Emile Garcin, who owns real estate agencies in
Provence, that prices in the second homes market have stabilised, or
even gone down slightly, since the strong increases of 2001 and 2002.
This is despite a shortage of suitable houses for sale. In a recent
interview with Le Figaro, he compared prices in three different parts
of Provence: Lubéron, Alpilles and Uzès, saying Alpilles commands the
highest prices, with prices in Lubéron about 20% lower and prices in
Uzès lower still.
The tables at Pleinchamps.com rank prices in the three areas in the same order. 
(See Bouches-du-Rhone for Alpilles, and Gard for Uzès.)

"Les prix ont tendance à se stabiliser voire à baisser légèrement
après les fortes hausses de 2001 et 2002. La difficulté tient à
l'écart qui se creuse aujourd'hui entre les prétentions des vendeurs
et le "prix de marché" évalué par l'acheteur après comparaison des
offres."

Emile Garcin, founder and president of Emile Garcin agencies
interviewed in Le Figaro on February 10th 2004
www.lefigaro.fr/immobilier/20040210.FIG0272.html

Although I read this article and took notes from it this morning (UK
time), I can no longer access it and cannot even bring it up from the
Figaro paying archives. However, I have found another article giving
similar background information by Garcin's son.

He says there is a weak supply of quality properties with character in
Provence, especially of property awaiting renovation. He describes
prices as "stable".

"Dans le Lubéron, les prix sont stables."
http://uk.proprietesdefrance.com/indicateur/pdf/php4/dossiers742.php?PHPSESSID=

A rough automatic translation of the interview:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fuk.proprietesdefrance.com%2Findicateur%2Fpdf%2Fphp4%2Fdossiers742.php%3FPHPSESSID%3D&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

The same site has an archive of other interviews which may be of
interest, as several deal with Provence:
http://uk.proprietesdefrance.com/indicateur/pdf/php4/arch_doss.php?PHPSESSID=



An article from September 2003 repeats the message about a shortage of
characterful houses. Prices for a "nice" ("sympathique") house
generally start at 450,000 euros and may go as high as a million and a
half euros.

Provence : immobilier au beau fixe
http://www.couleurbrique.be/acheter/A_045457.asp

I hope this will be useful, but if you have a query, please ask for
clarification, and I'll do my best to help.

Best wishes - Leli


google searches:

vaucluse indice prix maisons
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=vaucluse+indice++prix+maisons&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

propriété lubéron prix hausse
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=propri%C3%A9t%C3%A9+lub%C3%A9ron+prix+hausse&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

immobilier chiffres hausse maisons 2003
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=immobilier+chiffres+hausse+maisons+2003&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

I also searched public information sites with housing facts and
figures, and a number of real estate sites like this one which has
information on price trends in France as a whole:
http://www.universimmo.com/actu/uniactu00x.asp?Article_Code=360