French buyers favour the Atlantic coast for their second homes

For the first time in 7 years, secondary residence purchases in France are picking up gently. Since spring, there has been an upturn in the property market. This is partly due to the proliferation of sale offers in certain holiday locations, which has caused prices to level downwards. Last year already, the Notaires de France reported remarkable drops of up to 50% in regions such as the Gers and Creuse. Normandy was less affected with only a 20% adjustment over 6 years.

Buyers are now in a slightly stronger position and are taking advantage! This is also why we looked at a recent Explorimmo survey regarding French people’s preferred destinations for second homes.

The Atlantic coast is pulling ahead with Aquitaine, Brittany and finally Normandy. The Bassin d’Arcachon in Gironde leads the fleet, closely followed by Biarritz in the Basque Country. This is the rebirth of the Atlantic Riviera. Evidence of this is that at the bottom of ranking is Sainte-Maxime, the only town representing the Côte d’Azur in the top 10.

Provence takes its revenge as it comes in 4th position with Cassis just behind Île de Ré. Quiberon is the other favourite destination in Brittany; the marina is ranked 6th behind St Jean de Luz but ahead of Deauville. Corsica is also represented with Porto Vecchio, followed by Sarlat in Dordogne in 9th position; it is the only inland destination.

Here is the complete ranking for spring 2016:

Ville	Region
“Bassin d’Arcachon”	Aquitaine
Biarritz	Aquitaine
Île de Ré	Bretagne
Cassis	Provence
Saint-Jean-de-Luz	Aquitaine
Quiberon	Bretagne
Deauville	Normandie
Porto-Vecchio	Corse
Sarlat	Aquitaine
Sainte-Maxime	Côte d’azur

As for prices, 52% of respondents do not want to exceed £150,000, and 26% - half that number - want to stay below £100,000. Buyers really have the advantage.