Posted on 13 October 2016
Buying a French ski property with a mortgage has never been cheaper, thanks to lenders offering some of the lowest mortgage rates ever seen in France.
Due largely to historically low European Central Bank rates (Euribor), fixed rate French mortgages are now available from as little as 1.7 per cent with 80 per cent loan to value on a 20-year term. These rates are available to most non-residents, and are especially welcome by British buyers who are having to factor the unfavourable exchange rate into their purchase.
For example, based on the rates above, with a purchase price of €200,000 and a deposit of €50,000 the monthly repayment for a French euro-mortgage would be just €737.69.
In fact, given the recent weakness of the Pound, some switched on British cash buyers are taking advantage of cheap mortgage rates by opting for a small loan on their French ski property. They then have the choice of paying off the loan once the exchange rate swings back in their favour.
One leading ski property developer in the French Alps, particularly in the Haute Savoie region, reported in October that it has had its best summer for five years with a 20 per cent annual rise in sales.
The figures include record sales during August and September with British buyers snapping up 60 per cent of apartments at a new development in Samoëns. They put much of this increase down to the attractiveness of French mortgages, combined with the reassurance that comes with the on-going infrastructure investment in many resorts.