British expats fill up south west france

British expats are filling up South West France, according to new research from INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies).

The study shows that for the first time expat Britons now make up the highest number of "foreigners" in SW France. There are now 16,000 Britons in Aquitaine - a number that could be doubled if you add in the neighbouring departments of Gers, Charente and Charente Maritime. Also of interest is the fact that these are not necessarily the wealthy retirees that one associates with the heart of the Dordogne. The report shows that many of the new wave are younger families who are looking to work in France and forge strong roots in the community.

Trevor Leggett, Chief Executive of Leggett Immobilier, Sees this as a welcome and healthy trend: "I'm not surprised by the findings - our agents in SW France have seen sales rise by around a third over the last couple of years and many of these have been to young families who are moving to France to escape the rat race and to see their children grow up in a safe, sunny and peaceful environment. We currently have around 1,800 houses for sale in Aquitaine and 2,000 in neighbouring Poitou Charentes - many of these will be particularly attractive to UK buyers as they have plenty of land and are close to pretty villages and excellent schooling. I see that there are now 3,536 British expats in the Charente Maritime alone - this is certainly an up & coming region for international buyers with upmarket areas like La Rochelle and the Ile de Ré offering easy access, great shopping, sandy beaches and a temperate climate.  Indeed we are eager to recruit new agents for this department to satisfy the demand that we are seeing from buyers from the UK and beyond.

"Schooling and integration into the community are a big positive to come out of the findings, The Sud Ouest ran a case study of an expat who runs a Franco British club, teaches English in the local schools and is also involved in local life with the Lions Club. Here at Leggetts we have our own real life examples of agents who are involved in local politics and helping out in local schools. This integration has been warmly welcomed and locals are impressed that the young, British, entrepreneurs are not being put off by the current media coverage of taxation and austerity".