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It's a major part of my job to keep a keen eye on property price movements over here. 

You need to take any figures with a pretty hefty pinch of salt but when combined with anecdotal evidence and tales from local vendors, agents & notaires they do help form a picture.

According to the national association of notaires house prices in charente have done the following:

2004/5     +21.4%

2005/6     +3.2%

2006/7     +15.1%

2007/8     +8.7%

2008/9     -8.1%

In theory this means that the house we bought in 2004 should have increased in value by over a third. In practice though I'm not sure this is the case and the drop of -8.1% for 2008/9 doesn't mirror the discounts I've been able to get for clients when negotiating on their behalf.

Lies, damned lies and statistics eh....what we can be sure of is that with transaction numbers still down in the doldrums the buyers market is going to be around for a while.

One final thought.

With an average price of €1300 per m2,  houses in Charente last year were almost 50% of the average across France (€2570 per m2). This is simply remarkable value considering the climate, landscape and general economy.

Article provided by Graham Downie of Cognac Property Services

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