La vie en rose: why now is a good time to buy in newly global Paris

There’s a noticeable bullishness in Paris this spring. The election of France’s young charismatic President Macron last June followed by the announcement that Paris will host the 2024 Olympics has transformed the city.

Even the waiters seem less grumpy, residents are upbeat and property prices are rising.

Knight Frank put the French capital at the very top of its Prime Residential Forecast, predicting a nine per cent increase this year helped by the return of global investors.

Coldwell Banker France estimates Brexit alone could entice 35,000 to 50,000 more buyers to Paris and France this year.

“There is certainly a healthy and refreshing optimism in the city,” agrees Susie Holland of selling and search agent Vingt Paris.

Macron has set about reforming the tax regime, slashing the wealth tax as low mortgage rates — below two per cent — have lured buyers back.

WHERE TO BUY

Property, while more affordable than London, is still expensive to buy or rent.

The city is divided into 20 arrondissements. Techies like the urban vibe of the 1st and 2nd while the 3rd and 4th, including the Marais, are edgy, eternally popular and beautiful but becoming “annoyingly busy”, says Holland.

Steep prices are pushing value-hunting buyers over to the 10th and 11th arrondissements.

British buyers typically want a two-bedroom apartment in a hip area such as Marais or the Left Bank for around £600,000, says Holland.

Gritty Pigalle straddling the 9th and 18th is freshly re-energised. New-wave cocktail bars have opened, old favourites been refurbed and Parisian twentysomethings are moving in.

FOR SALE

In the 9th, Vingt Paris has an elegant two-bedroom apartment opposite the Moulin Rouge for £1 million.

It would realise monthly net rent of £4,450, estimates Holland.

Further north for £419,000, Athena Advisers has a newly refurbished one-bedroom duplex apartment with permissions for short-term rentals, rare in central Paris.

In the Marais, a well-renovated 730sq ft one-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor of a Haussmann building is £930,000 with Sphere Estates.

Also in the Marais, Vingt Paris is selling a beautifully decorated one-bedroom apartment in a 17th-century mansion for £1.3 million.