Post by Patrick on May 13, 2009 15:53:21 GMT
France's traditionally sedate property market is suffering some turbulence as concentrations of expats in some areas have exported not only cash but also a very British boom and bust.
The view from Ian Onderson's house stretches for 50km (30 miles) across the cherry orchards, vineyards and rolling hills of Provence.
It's hard to feel too much sympathy for a man with six bedrooms, five bathrooms and a swimming pool, but the plans he and his wife had for their "place in the sun" are cooling pretty quickly.
I've said it time and time again - Why do we have to put up with our ridiculous property market when sensible examples like that in France could lead the way to stable prices and continuous affordability
Ten, twenty years ago - if you wanted to know the price of a house over there when going through the ads that often popped up in the Sunday Papers you just knocked the last nought off the end and there you were - 3 bed town house with a garden just became £50,000. Looking at websites today you can see it's still nearly very much the case. As their sensible approach to money lending shines through. (Outside of Paris that is) Prices have been around the same for as long as I can remember, anyway!
Similarly you will always see more older cars around the streets (maybe away from the big cities) - a lot of models that we may not have seen over here for years. Again it's economics and sensible lending and borrowing!
So there's your answer Mr Brown - Forget throwing money around in the hope that people will spend again - introduce legislation that gets people spending sensibly and not permanently and shallowly lusting after new cars or wondering how much that PVC guttering is going to put on the value of their home!
The view from Ian Onderson's house stretches for 50km (30 miles) across the cherry orchards, vineyards and rolling hills of Provence.
It's hard to feel too much sympathy for a man with six bedrooms, five bathrooms and a swimming pool, but the plans he and his wife had for their "place in the sun" are cooling pretty quickly.
I've said it time and time again - Why do we have to put up with our ridiculous property market when sensible examples like that in France could lead the way to stable prices and continuous affordability
Ten, twenty years ago - if you wanted to know the price of a house over there when going through the ads that often popped up in the Sunday Papers you just knocked the last nought off the end and there you were - 3 bed town house with a garden just became £50,000. Looking at websites today you can see it's still nearly very much the case. As their sensible approach to money lending shines through. (Outside of Paris that is) Prices have been around the same for as long as I can remember, anyway!
Similarly you will always see more older cars around the streets (maybe away from the big cities) - a lot of models that we may not have seen over here for years. Again it's economics and sensible lending and borrowing!
So there's your answer Mr Brown - Forget throwing money around in the hope that people will spend again - introduce legislation that gets people spending sensibly and not permanently and shallowly lusting after new cars or wondering how much that PVC guttering is going to put on the value of their home!
