Just read an article that you shouldn't even consider buying a gite or two in France now because the market is so saturated and people are losing money left, right and centre. Anyone know if this is reality or just your usual scaremongering from the press (ie it happened to one person, so it could happen to you)?
We looked into buying in France but there is great difficulty in some areas to rent these properties. Like parts of the Costas they are saturating the market. Lots of Brits under retirement age think if they buy a run down property with a pigstye/barn they can turn into a gite they can sustain themselves by turning buildings into gite(s) and doing little more than changing the sheets/towels and cleaning once a week. This used to be a wonderful idea but do your market research first. Look at websites like www.holidayrentals.com where you can look at availability. Cover all areas and look at how many weeks these properties are actually rented when it comes to peak season and make an assessment before you think your holiday home can make you more money than the money staying in the bank!
Anywhere but coastal France is over supplied. Not just the Brits. Lots of locals are going up the spare buildings for rental, knowning that the general property market is going up. They invest less so can undercut any wannabe property magnet Brit. Rich, www.franceinfocus.net
We had a nice break in a Gite two years ago, with the retired English owners in the other half of the converted farmhouse. It was interesting that even then, they were saying that a lot of others like them were trying to sell-up and move further south. They themselves were moving to a 'proper' house in a village, as they wanted to walk, rather than drive. Not only that, but they were beginning to find the summer storms tedious, and the winter temperatures still went down to -6C at times. A draughty old converted-on-they-cheap gite was no match for a modern bungalow with proper central heating. The problem was that no one locally wanted to buy the place either - too far from a big town and miles from shops: no use for a working family.
If cheap flights were to disappear and Channel crossing and fuel prices were to go up, I think that we could see a serious downturn.
That IS interesting. When you read things, two years ago seems like it was still a buoyant period. It's also interesting to think what happens when you no longer want your gite - unless you keep it for family and friends to visit. But wanting to sell on sounds like it could be problematic as everyone wants to buy, as mentioned above, that pigsty to make a million with! And as you point out, you could only really sell to someone else wanting to run gites (if you have a lot of them). I would only see a gite as a second income if I were to do it but I am going off the idea with these stories and articles.
