Paris Real Estate News

Analysis: No simple answer to EU growth vs. austerity conundrum

2012-04-16T12:24:00.000+03:00

Reuters) - Fierce debate is growing in Europe over whether austerity or growth offers the best strategy to overcome the continent's sovereign debt crisis. As if it were that simple.

As the euro zone hovers on the brink of its second recession in three years, the battle launched in academic journals, blogs and the financial press has spread to the hustings in France, Greece and soon in EU economic powerhouse Germany too.

"Europe can't cut and grow," Sony Kapoor, head of the Re-Define think-tank, and Peter Bofinger, a member of the German Council of Economic Advisers, said in an article before European Union leaders adopted a budget discipline pact last month.

"The EU needs a growth compact, not a fiscal one. Swift action on tax and jobs is the way out of the crisis."

The growth camp argues that synchronized austerity across Europe will only aggravate economic contraction, swell the ranks of the unemployed and make it harder for debt-laden countries to reduce their deficits and restore market confidence.

Less government spending reduces public sector jobs and shrinks demand, depressing consumer spending and investment, and risks pushing the economy into a self-defeating vicious cycle.

"The question is whether governments should relent in their efforts to reduce deficits now, when the global economy is still weak, and policy credibility is far from granted," economist Giancarlo Corsetti said in a debate on the VoxEU website.

Harrison Ford selling Brentwood mansion he called home for 30 years

2012-04-14T10:25:00.000+03:00

ighteen months after buying a $12.65 million mansion with his third wife Calista Flockhart, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” star Harrison Ford has listed his pristine country Colonial home he’s owned for almost 30 years on the Brentwood real estate market in LA for $8,295,000.

According to The Real Estalker , Ford acquired the Gerard Colcord-designed, country Colonial home in June 1983 for $1,000,000, which places the purchase date about six years after the 1977 release of “Star Wars,” for which Ford was nominated for an Academy Award, and about two years after “Raiders of the Lost Ark” 1981 release.

Guess it’s finally time to move on, although given the meticulous remodel that appears to have spared little cost and given tremendous attention to detail, Ford’s home has been a master work in progress with polished wood floors, moldings and many built-ins.

The main house is set high above the street just below fabulous The Getty Museum. The 7,164-square-foot house was originally built in 1951 and has 4 bedroom suites with an additional poolside, one-bedroom guesthouse plus two additional detached guest/staff suites.

Continued rebalancing in the medico-social real estate sector

2012-04-13T16:40:00.001+03:00

Regulatory News:

Gecina (Paris:GFC) has acquired real estate companies owning a portfolio of six nursing homes from MAPI Invest, a joint venture between the WP Carey and CPA 15 funds.

The six facilities are all in outstanding locations in urban and residential areas across the Paris Region (Paris, Poissy, Chatou, Rueil-Malmaison, Rosny-sous-Bois and Sarcelles). They are let to the Medica France group under triple net investor leases, with a residual firm period of 9.5 years. These six assets are valued at 70.5 million euros excluding duties, based on 4.6 million euros in annualized rental income, giving a net yield rate of almost 6.2% for this portfolio.

In this way, Gecina is continuing to diversify its healthcare real estate portfolio, in line with the process that began in 2011 with the acquisition of the Foncière Sagesse Retraite portfolio (30 nursing homes across France, with 26 let to Domusvi and four to Korian), while rebalancing its property holdings through greater exposure to the medico-social sector (30% of rental income from this segment following the operation, versus 25% previously).

Gecina's strategy for partnerships with the main healthcare operators is also continuing to move forward with this acquisition. Indeed, Gecina has further strengthened its alliance with the Medica France group, number four on the French nursing home market with 9,730 beds and 123 facilities. Before this operation, Medica represented 4% of Gecina's annualized rental income on healthcare real estate, with this figure rising to 10% following this deal.

Paris Preferred Place for Property Investment

2012-04-01T01:14:00.002+03:00

London has long been the darling of European property investment for many foreign buyers, but CBRE reports that the top spot has been overtaken by Paris as a result of weakening interest in other locations due to the Eurozone financial crisis. Russia is also gaining in interest, supplanting Berlin for the sixth slot on the list of most desired locations. Nordic cities and various areas in Germany are also attracting more attention thanks to their comparatively more responsible financial management and stability. Even so, the supremacy of London and Paris give credence to the benefits of being historically popular. For more on this continue reading the following article from Property Wire.
Paris has overtaken London to become the number one city in Europe for property investment while Moscow has overtaken Berlin as the number six city, according to global property adviser CBRE.
With the onset of the financial crisis in the third quarter of 2008 foreign investors largely abandoned Russia and have not yet returned in significant numbers. Domestic investors account for the majority of commercial real estate investment in Russia.

But according to Christopher Peters, director of research at CBRE in Russia once foreign investors recover their appetite for Russia her place in this table will rise further.
The Russian real estate investment market as a whole recorded €1.684 billion of activity in the fourth quarter of 2011. Together with the second quarter of 2011 with investment of €1.790 billion, these were the highest quarterly volumes seen in real estate investment since before the onset of the financial crisis.
A surge in investment activity in the final quarter of 2011 meant that investment in Paris jumped from €3.6 billion in the first half of the year to €7.9 billion in the second half, resulting in the first change in the top two of the rankings since CBRE began compiling the list in 2004.
But investment in central London in the second half of 2011 was far from subdued at €7.8 billion. Although failing to match the very high total recorded in the second half of 2010.
The French real estate investment market as a whole recorded €6.5 billion of activity in the final quarter of 2011. This was the highest quarterly turnover for France since the third quarter of 2007 and was ahead of every other market in Europe during the final quarter of 2011 except the UK, which saw an estimated €8.3 billion of investment activity.
Investment activity in France was heavily biased towards the Paris office sector and included large portfolio and single asset deals.
‘Investor sentiment in Europe has been heavily influenced by the sovereign credit rating downgrades and the lack of a solution to the Eurozone crisis. This has driven European investment activity towards the Nordic markets and German cities in particular,’ said Jonathan Hull, EMEA head of capital markets at CBRE.
Read more

Paris Now Top Real Estate Investment City in Europe

2012-03-30T17:27:00.001+03:00

Paris is now the biggest real estate investment destination in Europe, having overtaken London in the second half of last year according to new data released by CB Richard Ellis.

In its survey of European capital markets, CBRE reports that investment volumes in Paris hit 7.9 billion Euros in 2H 2011, up from 3.6 billion Euros in the first half of the year. With this Paris pipped London at the post with its 7.8 billion Euros investment volume.

The office sector drove the surge in Paris investment according to the report, with a mixture of single-asset and large portfolio transactions. With turnover up 30.7% in the second half of 2011, Paris now accounts for over 14% of the European real estate investment market according to CBRE.

The report also highlights a recovery in Moscow real estate investment. With 2.6 billion Euros invested in the second half, compared to 1.9 bn in the first half, Moscow overtook Berlin to become the sixth biggest real estate investment market in Europe.

CBRE believes investment in Moscow will continue to grow. 'Domestic investors account for the majority of commercial real estate investment in Russia. Once foreign investors recover their appetite for Russia, we can expect Russia to rise further, not least as it is one of Europe’s three megapolises,’ said Christopher Peters, CBRE research director for Russia.

The report's market by market analysis shows strong year on year growth in real estate investment for 2011 as a whole in France and Germany, while investment shrank in Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK. In fact, in Ireland only 8 deals were done in 2011 almost every one following a repossession, and in Portugal only 15 deals were done. This shows that while bond investors may have eased up of late, property investors are still shaky when it comes to the sovereign debt crisis.

The French Property Portal

2011-05-18T18:04:00.001+03:00

Have a look through the houses and properties and real estate advertised on our site. You will find all types of French property for sale - from houses in France, French lakes, farms, barns and renovation projects to French businesses for sale, prestige property, magnificent chateaux, equestrian property or an apartment in Paris. You will also find many cheap French properties to buy on this site as well as gites in France, businesses for sale in France and the odd chateau or two for sale.

How an Illinois retiree, after enrolling in a language class, found a new life in the city of Dijon

2011-05-10T00:10:00.000+03:00

In 2004, at the age of 54, I retired from my job as a business-systems analyst. The work had been all-consuming, with continuing education a constant necessity, and I had little opportunity for travel. I often felt there must be something more to life.

I settled on a 10-acre piece of land (with a pond and barn) in southern Illinois, near Carbondale in the Shawnee National Forest. Looking for a way to keep my mind and spirit active, I enrolled in a French class. There, a professor urged me to study French in France, as part of a program offered by a group of Illinois schools.

In August 2006, I found myself in a one-month class at the University of Burgundy in Dijon.

france property mortgage rate from just 1.95 %

2010-07-05T20:51:00.000+03:00

People seeking to buy a home in France can now get a Euro mortgage for French residential property with a variable rate of 1.95 per cent at up to 80 per cent loan-to-value from the overseas mortgage specialists, Conti.

The French property market, one of the most stable in Europe, accounts for the largest number of mortgage enquiries received at Conti.

Clare Nessling, operations director at Conti, said: “According to our records, this is the lowest rate we’ve offered for property in France. The country has become an increasingly attractive investment option, not least because of very low interest rates and easy access from the UK, but also due to the falling value of the euro and lower property prices, with many sellers dropping their prices to levels we’ve not seen for several years.”

France Real Estate: Over Inflation In Market Reduced By Downturn

2010-01-14T22:50:00.000+02:00

While France's real estate market has been insulated from the worst of the housing crash, the mood entering the New Year is subdued, as even prime property in the Alps have seen prices plunge. At the same time, as inflated values drop buyers are finding bargains, and the outlook is especially optimistic for the revitalized Marseille region, and for vacation property favorites Normandy and Brittany. See the following article from Property Wire for more on this.

France real estate
Nice, France
The French property market is bracing itself for a tough year ahead in 2010 but real estate experts do not expect a sudden recovery despite prices showing signs of stabilizing.

Although the global economic downturn has made the last 18 months hard for the real estate industry, France has benefited from not having an overpriced market and a system that is more cautious and less gung-ho in terms of lending.

It hasn’t seen the kind of boom and bust that has affected its neighbors in Spain and Britain.

The Painful Education of Real Estate Scion Rob Speyer

2010-01-13T22:32:00.000+02:00

Rob Speyer showed little interest in his family's real estate business until his dad considered buying Manhattan's Rockefeller Center in 1995 for $1.2 billion. Intrigued by plans to revitalize the art deco complex, Speyer, then 26, left his job at the New York Daily News and joined Tishman Speyer, the firm his father founded with Robert Tishman in 1978. "I caught the bug," he says. "It was really hearing about that transaction that flipped the switch in my head and made me say: 'I want to learn this business.' "

Some 19 months after being named co-CEO with his dad, Rob Speyer is learning how to weather a commercial real estate rout. At least four big deals made by the firm as property prices peaked are unraveling. Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, the Manhattan apartment complex that Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Realty bought for $5.4 billion in 2006, is on the verge of default and worth just $1.8 billion, according to credit rating company Fitch. "The overriding thing in real estate is timing," says Peter Hauspurg, chairman of Eastern Consolidated Properties, a real estate brokerage. "No matter how strong your skill sets are, if you buy at the wrong time, there's no way you can make it work out."

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank provides €42,5m investment financing for Paris office building to Invesco Real Estate

2010-01-09T11:13:00.001+02:00

Germany/France - pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank has provided a medium term € 42,5 million investment financing facility for the acquisition of an office building located 148 rue de l’Université in Paris, France.

Invesco Real Estate, acting as Asset and Investment Manager, completed the acquisition on behalf of a US discretionary Fund. This transaction was signed on 30 December 2009.

The 10,300 sq m prime Class A office building is located in the heart of 7th district, on the left bank of the river Seine, close to Quai d’Orsay and Les Invalides. The property was completed in 2003 and is partially let to tenants with strong covenants. The building has 1,600 sqm average storey area, and its letting outlook is strong.

Citadel invests €33 million in Paris

2010-01-07T23:40:00.000+02:00

France - Citadel (CLS Holdings plc) has acquired an office building in the Rueil (92) Business district, close to Paris’ La Défense, from Corio for €33 million. International real estate advisor Savills represented the vendor.

The 7,357 sq m (79,192 sq ft) office building is let in its entirety to corporates including Veolia Environment and Geostock.

Pascal Rupert, director of investment at Savills Paris office, says: “Rueil Seine is an important business district which attracts major multi-national occupiers. There were just two investment deals carried out in 2009 in this area, and this transaction was the largest.”

La Société Générale provided financing of €21.7 million.

Appeal winner: Briatore says "I did it for Renault"

2010-01-05T21:40:00.000+02:00

I did it for Renault"

Today the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris, France has decided in favor of Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds.

Former Renault team principal Briatore and director of engineering Symonds had both taken their case to the French court in an attempt to overturn the ban the Formula One's governing body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), had imposed on them after the Renault crash-gate scandal. The race-fixing scandal also involved young driver Brazilian Nelson Piquet, who crashed his Renault deliberately to cause the deployment of the safety car during the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008, which resulted in a win for the other Renault driver
, Spaniard Fernando Alonso, currently employed by the Ferrari team.

CORRECTED - Icade to buy a Morgan Stanley real estate firm

2010-01-03T21:49:00.000+02:00

PARIS, Dec 23 (Reuters) - French-based Icade (ICAD.PA) will buy Compagnie la Lucette (MDLL.PA), another real estate firm, from Morgan Stanley (MS.N) to create a entity with a portfolio of over 5.7 billion euros ($8.2 billion).

Icade will offer two of its shares plus 32.50 euros for 21 Lucette shares in the two-stage transaction.

Initially, Icade will buy a 35 percent stake in Lucette for 9.61 euros per share, or 87.6 million euros. In the first quarter it will acquire another 59.5 percent in exchange for shares that will give the Morgan Stanley fund a 4.5 percent stake in Icade.

This will make Morgan Stanley the second-biggest stakeholder in Icade after state-owned CDC.

CPPIB sees opportunity in global real estate

2009-12-31T10:08:00.000+02:00

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which bought a troubled Scottish shopping mall on Monday, said more high-quality real estate would likely come available in key markets in the coming year.

The real estate arm of the CPP Investment Board and Hammerson PLC (HMSO.L), an Anglo-French property investor, bought the Silverburn shopping center near Glasgow from receivers for 297 million British pounds ($479 million) in a 50/50 joint venture.

The acquisition of the mall after its builder went into bankruptcy highlights opportunities in real estate in major economies around the world after the sector was pummeled by the global financial crisis.

St Germain- des - Prés again Paris' most expensive real estate district

2009-12-30T21:29:00.000+02:00

The 6th arrondissement around “Saint Germain- des- Prés” and the “Luxembourg Garden” is once again Paris’ most expensive real estate location. Following the crisis, prices fell and an average square meter, that cost €10,040 during the 4th quarter 2008, stood at €9,380 during the 3rd quarter 2009.

Paris, France -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/14/2009 -- By KHS, Paris http://www.khs.fr/

The Paris Notary Chamber released its real estate market report for the 3rd quarter 2009 in a press conference on 26 November. According to the notaries, the average square meter price for old and unoccupied apartments cost € 6,160 in the City of Paris. It decreased by 7.2% over the year but was 1.4% higher than during the 2nd quarter 2009.

According to the notaries, prices on the Paris residential real estate market increased strongly since 1998 and peaked during the 4th quarter 2008 with an average price of € 6,520 per square meter. In early 2009 they started to decline and fell by 1% in the first and by 7,8 % in the second quarter.

UPDATE 2-Hammerson in major UK, French retail prop. deals

2009-12-29T19:04:00.000+02:00

LONDON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Anglo-French property investor Hammerson (HMSO.L) has revived its acquisition spree after a four-year lull, closing two major deals on Monday to buy a Scottish shopping centre and new retail developments in France.

The purchase of the Silverburn mall near Glasgow and up to five French retail projects, investments totalling about $1.1 billion, mark a major shift for the UK property firm, which has spent the past year rebuilding its balance sheet.

By 1200 GMT, shares of FTSE 100-listed Hammerson were up 0.2 percent, underperforming the FTSE's .FTSE 1.1 percent rise.

Hammerson, which owns 4.7 billion pounds ($7.7 billion) of real estate in the UK and France, last month said it planned a return to the construction site in 2010 as confidence rose in Europe's recovering property markets

Western Europe real estate ''to prove popular in 2010''

2009-12-28T00:12:00.000+02:00

Commercial property markets in a number of western European regions are likely to perform more strongly than their southern counterparts next year, according to one retail estate researcher.

Matthew Richardson of Fidelity Real Estate Investment Management believes that countries including France, Germany and the UK should prove to be popular.

The Nordic nations may also become areas of focus for some investors, he added, along with the Benelux region.

However, as the firm''s head of research, he also added: "Central and eastern Europe, southern Europe and the Baltic states remain too risky until a suitably attractive premium is re-established to tempt investors."

Mr Richardson went on to note that investors may look towards real estate properties next year because of factors such as "increased risk appetite".

Meanwhile, IPD figures have recently revealed that November of this year witnessed a 2.4 growth in capital within the UK''s commercial property market.

HSBC to Sell Paris Buildings

2009-12-26T10:11:00.001+02:00

The properties, at 103 avenue des Champs Elysees and 15 rue Vernet, have an area of 357,000 square feet combined and are the last two major corporate buildings that the U.K. bank put on sale in recent months.

HSBC recently agreed to sell its London base at Canary Wharf to the National Pension Service of Korea for £772.5 million ($1.25 billion) in cash, and its New York headquarters to Israeli investment holding company IDB Group for $330 million.

The Paris buildings are being sold to real-estate asset manger French Properties Management on behalf of private investors, the bank said in a statement, adding that it will lease back the properties for nine years.

2009 review and 2010 outlook for commercial real estate in Europe

2009-12-25T14:05:00.000+02:00

Nick Axford

The economic aftermath of the collapse of Lehman in September 2008 has been well documented and continues to unfold. Against a background of extreme uncertainty, investment decisions froze and most of the world´s major economies entered recession. Unemployment has risen sharply across Europe and is still rising; stock markets, asset prices and business and consumer confidence tumbled, and even now the flow of credit to businesses remains patchy.

The main elements of policy response were near-zero interest rates and state intervention roughly equivalent to a sixth of GDP in Europe and the US. Not surprisingly, these have had some stabilising effect. Recent economic data are more varied and suggest that some economies are resuming a growth path, albeit a gradual one. While many economies and real estate markets will therefore enter the new year with prospects apparently looking brighter than seemed likely even a few months ago, this has been a challenging year to say the least.

Club Med To Sell Real Estate Assets

2009-12-12T19:52:00.000+02:00

PARIS (Dow Jones) --Most of French resort operator Club Mediterranee SA's (CU.FR) real estate assets will eventually be sold, the company's Chief Executive Henri Giscard d'Estaing said Friday in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires.

The company plans to focus its activities on managing the resorts, and its real estate strategy is "asset light," Giscard d'Estaing said.

"Most of the (real estate) assets that we fully own are set to be sold," Giscard d'Estaing told Dow Jones Newswires, after the company presented its 2009 full-year earnings.

Some of these assets can't be immediately sold, notably those located in French overseas territories as Club Mediterranee has been granted subsidies by the French government, Giscard d'Estaing added.

Herald de Paris announces a new Luxury real estate program

2009-12-08T08:57:00.001+02:00

We were not satisfied.

We next created the world’s first and only live, completely interactive morning news and “infotainment” program, Le Morning Show, as a way to further deliver our news to market. Why? Because we discovered early that we were not just publishing news stories in print faster than our peers, we were also beating the cable news guys to breaking news stories by as much as three hours.

In all, the Herald de Paris is being read in 157 countries, worldwide, published in two languages. So, too, we feed our news services to more than 17,000 websites around the globe. We do not get specific circulation figures from our media partners, but we currently estimate our potential daily audience to be as high as 11 million households. Honestly, I suspect our reach is a little lower. We do not concern ourselves with overall volume. We are more concerned with conveying the right information to our blossoming clientele.

SeLoger.com: 2009 9-Month Revenues Up by 1.0%

2009-11-04T15:58:00.000+02:00

"Along with other sectors of the economy, the real estate market has experienced a crisis unlike any other in recent times, which has heavily affected real estate agents. Since the month of September, transaction levels in old property have stabilised and the drop in transaction prices is slowing down. The 1.0% growth in revenues over the first 9 months of the year 2009 mirrors this market condition, and explains the refocusing of real estate agent communication budgets towards the most efficient Internet supports. Today we are witnessing a point of inflection in the real estate market. For the current financial year, we reiterate our aim to reach the upper range of our estimations," declares Roland Tripard, CEO of the Group SeLoger.com.

AMB Property Leases in Paris Development

2009-09-06T08:19:00.000+03:00

Global owner, operator and developer of industrial real estate, AMB Property Corporation, leased approximately 65,000 square feet in AMB Port of Rouen, a development in its Paris market, which is now fully leased.

Lincoln Electric, a manufacturer of welding equipment, is taking the last available space in the 275,000 square-foot project a month before completion of development.

The Port of Rouen provides rapid access to major economic centers in the region via highway, rail and the two major airports at Roissy and Orly.

Fonciere des Regions Says Property Values Fell 5% in First Half

2009-07-15T11:01:00.000+03:00

July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Fonciere des Regions SA, the French office landlord with stakes in five other real estate investment trusts, will report a drop of about 5 percent in property values for the first half, according to its chief executive officer.

The estimate, based on preliminary property valuations, compares with the 10.2 billion-euro ($14 billion) value of FDR’s properties at the end of 2008, following a 3.1 percent decline for the whole of that year.

“It shows how well our portfolio has held up,” said Christophe Kullmann, 43, in a July 1 interview at his office near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. “We have long leases, low market rents and high capitalization rates, plus we have few prime assets in central business districts -- the assets which are suffering the most.”