French Elections: Promises and Impact
Since the official publication of the candidates list that came out on Tuesday, March 20th, the “course a l’Elysee” as the French like to say (litt: race for the Elysee, headquarters of the French president), is set out again for a turn. Ten candidates have now entered a relentless media battlefield, which will last until Friday, April 20th, which is the official end of the campaign.
The current president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP /centre-right party), is standing once again alongside his major rivals such as Francois Hollande (Parti Socialiste/social-democratic party), Francois Bayrou (MoDem/centrist & social-liberalist party), Eva Joly (Europe Ecologie les Verts/green party), Jean Luc Melanchon (Front de gauche / extreme left party associated with communists) and Marine Le Pen (Front National/extreme-right party). The first round of voting will take place on Sunday, April 22nd. If no candidate is elected with more than 50% of the total votes, a second round will then occur on Sunday, May 6th in order to decide who will be the next president of the country between the two candidates who gathered most votes during the first round.
Due to the previous European crisis, the recovery of the French economy seems to be the main concern of this 2012 campaign. However the French property market remains an important topic as well, especially when it comes to public housing and low energy-consumption buildings, whose number should be – according to all candidates – dramatically increased. Among all of their propositions, some candidates also suggest:
– Using public lands to build more logements sociaux (state-subsidized accommodations).
– Increasing the social accommodation quota in cities (up to 25%), and the punishment of mayors who do not respect it by reducing their State subsidiaries.
– An alignment of French properties rental prices in a same neighbourhood.
– A tax reduction for people buying a property for the first time (cheque premier logement).
Although the loss of France’s triple A, which occurred on January 13th of this year, didn’t affect the market when announced, it seems that this forthcoming presidential election is surprisingly drawing the attention of everyone. This appears to be causing a slight decrease in property sales according to the French notaries. The interest rates remain however stable, showing that there is no rational reason for this slowing down, as no candidate proposed any drastic change in estate laws. There is then no need to panic. As soon as the elections end, – and whoever the elected candidate happens to be, the number of sales will return to normal. With this rebound of activity, the prices of property may increase as well. If you are thinking about buying a property in France, then the best moment to make your decision is probably right now.