Ten years ago, even five years ago, Brits coming to live in the South of France were still looking for what I’d call a Mayle-order package. Their idea was to buy a house in the country, maybe a bit of a wreck they could enjoy doing up. Some actually did very well at this though, to my knowledge, not a single one of them turned the experience into gold the way Peter Mayle did. Here in this office we’ve been asked more than once to offer an opinion of a painfully crafted but uninspired manuscript, always from the Var, and that has stretched our qualities of humanity and tact to the utmost.

But there’s been a change in the past few years. An increasing number of U.K. buyers are going for apartments in the towns rather than for any sort of house in the country. One London specialist in French properties we spoke to put a figure on it: “I’d say — and colleagues confirm this — that across the nineties about twenty per cent of buyers were interested in flats; now that’s around sixty per cent.” Why so? “Well, the stock of houses is limited, that’s one point and it can take a long time to find what you want. And then people realise that flats are simply less trouble to look after — no garden, no pool — and there’s usually little in the way of rebuilding to do. Also flats are easier to rent out, I’d say, and, if the time comes, also easier to sell especially to local French purchasers.”
All this was confirmed by a couple from Chester who’ve recently taken a small apartment in Beausoleil and spoke on the condition of anonymity (“we don’t want anyone calling us up with any kind of sales pitch”): “We never even thought of looking at houses. This place is ideal: it’s near the sea, close to several towns and a reasonable drive from the ski slopes. Although we both work we plan to spend several chunks of time here across the year, but DIY just isn’t on the agenda. EasyJet can get us down here from Liverpool to make it just over three hours’ journey door-to-door and when we get here we just want to enjoy it.” Fair enough — but who’s going to be the first to coin it with A Year in a Côte d’Azur Apartment Block?

From Reporter 106 - Dec 2004

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