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Are these the most desirable places in France to have a second home?

For most French people, the ideal second home is by the sea. But which of the country's stunning coastal locations make the top of the list?

Are these the most desirable places in France to have a second home?
Photo: AFP
The French have revealed the places they consider most desirable to own a second home and the top ten are all by the sea. 
 
Surveying around 1,200 web users, real estate website Explorimmo discovered where in France the French dream most of owning a second home. 
 
Top of the list was the Bassin d’Arcachon (see below) on the south west coast of France and just an hour from Bordeaux, with 21 percent of the people surveyed naming this as the place they most want to own a second home. 
 
And you can see why when you look at the pics.
 
(Graeme Churchard/Flickr)
 
(Bassin d'Arcachon. Photo: Twin Loc/Flickr)
Le bassin d’Arcachon. Photo:  JPC24M/Flickr 
 
After Arcachon,the most popular place for a second home in France was the chic Normandy coastal resort of Deauville.
 
The fact it is roughly two hours from Paris by car and slightly less by train has meant Deauville has been hugely popular with the capital's posher residents for decades.
 
Just check out the number of designer stores in town.
 
Photo: Thegoodlifefrance/Wikicommons
 
Deauville beach. Photo: Pinpin/WikiCommons
 
Unsurprisingly a Mediterranean location featured high on the list with the fishing port of Cassis making it to third place. 
 
Cassis. Photo: Amanda Snyder/Flickr
 
In fourth place was Sainte Maxime (16,5%) which lies on the French Riviera in between Toulon and Cannes.
 
(Saint-Maxime. Photo: Office de Tourisme Saint-Maxime/Facebook)
 
In fifth was the popular holiday island of Ile de Ré (16%) just off La Rochelle on the west coast of France.
 
Photo: Ile-de-Re. Giancarlo Foto4U/FLickr
 
Sixth was Biarritz (15%) – on the south west Basque Coast, which is home to some of the best beaches in the country.
 
Photo: Florian PépellinWikiCommons
 
Seventh was Quiberon (13%) a fairly wild peninsula on the southern coast of Brittany, which is also home to some stunning beaches.
 
 
(Photo: Peter Stenzel)
 
Then in eighth was Saint-Jean de Luz (12,5%), not far from Biarritz on the south west Basque Coast.
 
Photo: Aslak Raanes/Flickr
 
The ninth most popular place was Ramatuelle (12%), near Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera.
 
Ramatuelle. Photo: PasabanaWikiCommons
 
And finally Porto-Vecchio (11%) in southern Corsica was the tenth most desirable place in France to have a holiday home.
 
(AFP)
 
Over the past 12 months, the market for second homes has started to bounce back since a dip that started when the financial crisis hit in 2008. 
 
The survey also revealed some other factors the French are taking into consideration when it comes to their second homes. 
 
Apparently most French people believe the ideal second residence would be an apartment rather than a house, and with one out of three of them aiming to buy a second home in the next three years for a maximum budget of €250,000, perhaps this makes sense. 
 
And of course, people want their second home to be easily accessible from their first. Of the people surveyed 41 percent of them said their ideal second residence would be less than three hours away from their main home by car.
 
The survey also showed that 38 percent of people would want to start renting it out quickly to make it profitable. 
 
In 2016, the French there were 3.3 million second homes in France, accounting for 9.4 percent of the country's total housing stock. 
 
French national statistics office Insee describing a second home as “housing used for weekends, hobbies and holidays”, including furnished homes rented out to tourists. 
 
 
 
 
 

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PROPERTY

What do energy ratings mean for French property owners?

If you're buying, selling or renting a property in France you will need to get an energy rating, and the score given to the property will affect how or even if you can sell or rent it.

What do energy ratings mean for French property owners?

Since 2006, all properties in France have been rated on a scale of A to G on their energy efficiency – this is a rating based on things like how well-insulated the property is and what method is used for heating the property and the water.

The energy performance rating must be included in the paperwork of any property that is for sale or for rent and it looks like this.

Image Ministère de la Transition Écologique et de la Cohésion des Territoires

As well as providing useful information for a future owner or tenant on how much they are likely to be spending on gas/electricity bills, the energy ratings can also affect future plans for a property.

What the ratings mean

Any property that is rated A-C will generally be in good repair with an efficient heating system and an adequate level of insulation.

Properties rated D will likely be more difficult to keep warm in winter and cool in summer, and are likely to bring in a steeper bill for heating during the winter months.

However, properties rated E, F and G bring with them serious legal restrictions.

Heat sieves

Properties rated F or G are dubbed passoires thermiques (heat sieves) or sometimes passoires enérgetiques (energy sieves).

If you want to sell a property with an F or G rating you are required to pay for an extra ‘energy audit’ (at a cost of around €1,000) to give the buyer a detailed breaking of where the building is wasting energy and how it can be put right.

There are already restrictions in place on rents charged for F and G rated properties and from January 1st 2025 it will become illegal for landlords to renew a contract or offer a new contract on a G rated property. This will be followed by F and then E rated properties.

Because of these restrictions, properties with a F and G rating have a lower market value, and may be difficult to sell at all. 

E rating 

At present there are no legal restrictions on E-rated properties, but rental restrictions are scheduled to come into effect in 2034.

There are currently no plan to impose an energy audit in order to sell E-rated properties, but it doesn’t seem beyond the realms of possibility that this may become a requirement in the future.

Grants

On the bright side, owning property with a poor energy rating does mean that you are eligible for various grants to do the work necessary to improve its rating (which will have the happy side effect of cutting your energy bills).

The French government has a €5 million fund to help homeowners do energy-related renovations, mostly available via grants from the MaPrimeRenov scheme.

GUIDE: French property guides you might be eligible for

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