France to get a new monthly property price index

For the first time ever there is to be a close to real time property index in France which will give buyers and sellers a better idea what is happening in the residential real estate market.
The Prix de l’Immobilier index will be launched in September and published weekly taking into account new transactions from a variety of different sources including banks and real estate syndicates.

It has been designed by Michel Mouillart, professor of economics at the University Paris-Ouest and director of the Housing Credit Observatory (CSA) with the aim of using figures from banks, financial institutions such as Crédit Foncier, Gecina, Sogeprom and the SNPI, the national syndicate for real estate prices that covers around 35% of sales in France.

It will be more up to date than the index published by Notaires which is notoriously months out of date. The index will be show data for the whole of France and also by region, city and town and it will give information on different property types such as houses, apartments and ‘special’ property.
French real estate professionals have been calling for an up to date and accurate residential property index for years and it will also benefit overseas buyers.

‘French Notaires have had a monopoly on house price data for a long time and when reports are published they are always six months behind,’ said Nicholas Leach at Athena Advisors which has over 120 partnerships with estate agents and developers in France.

‘Historical data is always useful but the lack of real time market information has always been a frustration for non-resident buyers, especially when this type of information is so readily available in countries like the UK. This new index will be extremely helpful when dealing with foreign investors, especially if it’s their first purchase in the country,’ he explained.

One of the biggest factors for overseas buyers is that they’ll now be able to see data for new build property as well as resale. ‘The Notaires data is largely based on resale property so for areas like central Paris where newly built property is extremely rare this new information will be very useful,’ added Leach.

http://www.propertywire.com/news/europe/france-property-price-index-201407309414.html