French agents braced for winter sales rush as new tax bites

Agencies based in France are getting ready for a winter sales rush as overseas property owners try to sell up before a new tax bill for capital gains tax takes effect on the 1st of February 2012.

The new tax law will make it more attractive for vendors not resident in France to sell their secondary home this year. A glut of high-value, luxury homes is about to hit the market, say local experts.

And “the expected effect is an increase of properties for sale and reduced prices by the vendors affected by the new tax,” the EstateNetFrance.com Research Luxury Property Index told OPP this week.

“The number of properties available for sale priced over €1m decreased by 1.78% to 7.768 units in September, this trend is widely expected to Change in the last months of 2011,” says the company. “The average price has remained more of less the same with only a slight increase of 0.64%.”

Source: OPP.org.uk