Hi
It is interesting that people are generally finding their bookings are down on previous years. This is only our second year so I will only have last year to go by as a bench mark and so far we are doing ok.
How have others found that the market has changed in the last 5 years, and how many find that repeats are the holy grail?
Is it inevitable that with more and more people purchasing a holiday home spurred by programmes like "A Place in the Sun" that bookings will be harder and harder to come by.
What are your thoughts?
Will Rentals be Viable in the future
Will Rentals be Viable in the future
Always Learning
It has to be inevitable that a greater supply will lower prices, forcing out those on overstretched budgets.The French dream is to build, not restore, and the countryside is reducing dramatically, with the ribbon development around Nice now moving into the Var.
The only thing in increasingly short supply is the well restored period property - and here the demand is growing, as the market saturates with neo-provencal villas all looking the same(neo-provencal in our part of France, of course).
There are tens of thousands of villas in the south of France which all look more or less the same, have more or less attractive pools, pretty gardens, modern kitchens etc - the only distinguishing feature is the price. My advice (which has already been given on this site) would be to find that element which makes the property unique: without this, you will suffer as prices plummet in the rental market.
Our neighbour (in Provence) has an attractive, neo provencal villa for 8 (pretty garden, great views,good pool) which he can't rent off season (May) for £600 pw:this is ridiculously low and wouldn't cover his mortgage costs if he had bought in the last few years. His summer price used to be £1600 pw, but with dozens of similar villas on the sites he uses advertising at £1200 pw, he is going to have to reduce by 25%.
We have rented out in Provence for over 10 years and this is the first year I have seen a marked decrease in rental rates.
The only good news is for owners of period properties: our bookings today (early February) are at the level they normally reach in April. We have a lot of Americans (who prefer older properties), despite the drop in the dollar.
Other beneficiaries of the saturated market are those with properties by the sea (but they need a pool, this year - this wasn't necessarily true as recently as summer 2004!). There isn't any land left to build on between Italy and Marseille and families with young children or teenagers will always want access to the sea.
I do think you can successfully let a newer property(especially to the French - see below), but you will have to do a lot of research into what the area offers that is unique...... and attractive.
One idea: we know several owners who successfully rent their (modern!) properties at good prices by advertising in a medical journal - this works if you want French tenants. And the French do prefer modern villas.
Has anyone tried this in other countries???????
The only thing in increasingly short supply is the well restored period property - and here the demand is growing, as the market saturates with neo-provencal villas all looking the same(neo-provencal in our part of France, of course).
There are tens of thousands of villas in the south of France which all look more or less the same, have more or less attractive pools, pretty gardens, modern kitchens etc - the only distinguishing feature is the price. My advice (which has already been given on this site) would be to find that element which makes the property unique: without this, you will suffer as prices plummet in the rental market.
Our neighbour (in Provence) has an attractive, neo provencal villa for 8 (pretty garden, great views,good pool) which he can't rent off season (May) for £600 pw:this is ridiculously low and wouldn't cover his mortgage costs if he had bought in the last few years. His summer price used to be £1600 pw, but with dozens of similar villas on the sites he uses advertising at £1200 pw, he is going to have to reduce by 25%.
We have rented out in Provence for over 10 years and this is the first year I have seen a marked decrease in rental rates.
The only good news is for owners of period properties: our bookings today (early February) are at the level they normally reach in April. We have a lot of Americans (who prefer older properties), despite the drop in the dollar.
Other beneficiaries of the saturated market are those with properties by the sea (but they need a pool, this year - this wasn't necessarily true as recently as summer 2004!). There isn't any land left to build on between Italy and Marseille and families with young children or teenagers will always want access to the sea.
I do think you can successfully let a newer property(especially to the French - see below), but you will have to do a lot of research into what the area offers that is unique...... and attractive.
One idea: we know several owners who successfully rent their (modern!) properties at good prices by advertising in a medical journal - this works if you want French tenants. And the French do prefer modern villas.
Has anyone tried this in other countries???????
Best,
Alexia.
Alexia.