Regular readers will know that I'm of the firm opinion that there is no such thing as a useful "general" house price indices.
I believe that all data is made up of "micro" markets and to say that UK house prices fell by 25% or that French house prices rose by 7% is useful only for stimulating discussion around the dinner table or for generating headlines in the popular press.
So with that caveat in place I'd like to share with you some figures from the Notaires de France who calculate that for an old house (as opposed to say a new build apartment) countrywide prices have done the following:
2005/6 +14.2%
2006/7 +9.7%
2007/8 +5.4%
2008/9 -2%
2009/10 -6.3%
Vaguely interesting but where it gets (a little) useful is if you drill down into each department (I live in Charente within Poitou Charente) and you can see how local prices have fared.
You can do all this by clicking here.
The RICS seem to generate huge volumes of press coverage each month with their regular bulletins (lead story on the BBC yesterday, mass coverage in all the nationals) yet in France the Immoprix figures pass with only a fraction of the media frenzy across the channel.
Perhaps they should think about headhunting the RICS press officer to get things rolling.
www.cognacproperty.com
2 comments:
Very accurate Graham, the regional differences and indeed the difference in different types or property are much more important than any amalgamated figures.
I can see that you are putting a lot of time and effort into your blog and detailed articles! Will be back often to read more updates!
Dierdre G
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