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Brits increasingly spurn French homes

chateauBritish buyers remain the largest group of foreigners who buy property in France, but overall figures show that sales to all foreigners have plummeted over the course of the last decade.

Of all properties sold last year, non-resident foreigners bought just one per cent.

At its peak, that figure was 2.8% in 2006-2007 but fell to 1.4% in 2014 before going down to 1% last year.

The property market report from Les Notaires noted that foreign buyers were still led by the British who accounted for 27% of all non-resident buyers in France last year.

But the report notes that the percentage of British buyers has fallen massively over the last decade. In 2005, the Brits represented 44% of foreign buyers.

But at all times, the Brits have outnumbered other foreigners buying French property. They are followed by buyers from Italy, Belgium and Switzerland, except in Paris where the Italians accounted for 20% of sales last year, followed by Americans and Brits (8% and 7% respectively).

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