Paris - The charm of the west

The Fifteenth and Sixteenth arrondissements are still favourites with the English. With average square metre prices of €7,410 and €8,270, they offer green spaces and roads running straight up to the beaches of Normandy and the North.

“These neighbourhoods have some very fine houses,” says Richard Tiberghien, “and they closely match what the English want.” Especially families, who come for the nearby department stores and the Bois de Boulogne.

For example, an English couple recently bought a 290 sq. m. apartment on Avenue Mozart for €1.7 million. And just over the Paris ring road, the local towns attract for the same reasons.

“Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly are popular with the English,” says Jean-Pierre Braun. As is Saint- Cloud, where his agency sold a 160 sq. m. apartment with a view of Paris for €1.1 million.

In these areas the focus is no longer on the pied-à-terre. “It's more an area where the English, together with French expatriates returning to France, like to come with their families,” says Gilles Dias Gama, marketing manager for Espace Trianon in Versailles.

“They want residences or properties with gardens. So we mostly see couples of about 40 with children looking for 250 sq. m. homes with 1,000 sq. m. of land.” Like this 220 sq. m. town house in Versailles with a 750 sq. m. garden that sold for €1.85 million.

“The English are also very keen on villages such as Le Chesnay, Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche, Jouy-en-Josas or Bièvres,” continues Gilles Dias da Gama. “They can find perfect properties at around €1 to 2 million.”

Just like this London couple with two children who were totally charmed by a lovely contemporary house in Bièvres (Essonne), with its 190 sq. m. of living space and a 1,200 sq. m. garden, that cost €1.2 million.

Alexandre Baldegui

Paris - The charm of the west, The Fifteenth and Sixteenth arrondissements

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