Research from the French property company FNAIM has revealed that the French property market faces a tough year in 2010 as real estate experts are not expecting a recovery, despite property prices beginning to stabilise.

Although the global economic downturn has made the last 18 months hard for the property industry, France has benefited from not having an overpriced market and a lending system that is more cautious. People in France, according to the report, do not believe that now is a good time to buy or sell as the economic climate has dented confidence. This is despite average property prices in France only declining by -5% in 2009 which compared to 2008 makes it very much a buyers’ market.
The Alps has been particularly badly hit, with property prices falling by -10-20%, as houses had been overpriced because of high demand, however, lack of supply has now prevented them from dropping any further.