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France's top hotspots

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If France, as has often been reported of late, is at least a warm place if not a hotspot for European property, many will be keen to know what its very hottest spots are, not least as the heat which fired up the market in other locations has now turned somewhat chilly as the cold winds of the credit crunch have blown through.

For French property specialists VEF, the two best areas are distinctly hot and cold. This, however, is part of the appeal, for the Cote D'Azur with its sun-kissed Mediterranean beaches and the Alipne ski resorts rely on very different weather to bring in the holidaymakers from which buy-to-let investors might make a successful trade.

VEF founder and managing director Trish Mason said: "For investors looking for high rental returns, then the Cote' D' Azur and Alps remain safe places in which to invest. The high level of rental return means that purchase prices are high but for the investor the important thing is that the capital growth is usually the highest in all of France."

For others, however, she suggested that different possibilities offered themselves. The majopr cities, she stated, were "still very interesting for buy-to-let investors", while those with an eye on the future could consider a region like Languedoc-Roussillon.

This particular corner of France, she noted, offered a south coast location adjacent to Provence, with the advantage that house prices were 30 per cent less. The other 30 per cent which is relevant is the projected increase in the population of the area in the next 20 years, meaning that for those who buy for the future, demand - and thus price - will soar.

Provence itself was somewhat cheaper 20 years ago, the Daily Telegraph notes. Back then, the paper states, when Peter Mayle was writing a Year in Provence, the cost of a stone farmhouse in Luberon was similar to that of a car. Now most locals could not afford a house in an area where there are few such properties available at all.

Luberon estate agent Emmanuel Garcin told the paper that the local property market has "increased by four to five times in the past 20 years and doubled in the past eight", with the fact that Luberon is in a regional park preventing new build and leading to a 20 per cent premium compared to neighbouring areas, with those older villages offering the most "authentic" medieval ambience being the most costly.

While Luberon may be a particularly special case because of the lack of new building, it may be that the experience of Provence will transfer to Languedoc-Roussillon. Whether the catalyst for this is another book like Mayle's to attract overseas buyers, or the more prosaic effect of a growing population, a new hottest hotspot in France may soon be emerging.

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