British buyers account for 15% of residential French property purchased from overseas, however this is still behind the expatriate French who have bought almost a third of overseas originated property, according to data from Credit Foncier.

Tim Harvey, of Offshoreonline.org, said: "With UK property values outside London still falling, it is easy to forget that some other popular property markets are continuing to recover strongly. French banks traditionally have a more conservative approach to lending and this may well have helped prevent volatility in that market, but loans of up 85% of the sale price at rates of around 3.45% are widely available today and for buyers concerned about future changes to interest rates, there has always been a wide choice of fixed and capped rate products available."

In the Cote DAzur area 14% of purchases in 2010 were by British buyers.

Harvey continued: "For expatriates looking to invest in property, the French market certainly has potential and mortgages are easier to arrange with smaller deposits than in the UK at present. High quality areas such as the Cote dAzur and towns such as Nice and Cannes will always have a special appeal both as second homes but also as rental propositions, as the area has such strong leisure and business traditions.”