Paris sees Middle Eastern buyers strengthen as currency shifts offer a discount
Resilient prices, easy accessibility, large-scale infrastructure projects and global sporting events are keeping Paris firmly on the radar of global buyers
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Paris is attracting strong interest from Middle Eastern buyers. Enquiries from UAE, Saudi, Qatari, Omani and Kuwait-based residents have increased significantly in the last six months. With several Middle Eastern currencies pegged to the dollar, some buyers saw a 19% price discount when purchasing in the eurozone in September 2022 compared to a year earlier.
Large hôtel-particulier style townhouses along with lateral apartments are in demand, particularly in areas that provide city-wide views of Paris’s top landmarks and easy access to the city’s retail hotspots.
Paris’s 6th, 7th and 8th arrondissements are popular amongst buyers from the Middle East. Avenue Foch and Avenue Victor Hugo in the 16th are particularly popular amongst Saudi buyers.
According to Henry Faun, Head of Knight Frank’s Private Office in the Middle East, “In recent months we have seen a significant uptick in both enquiries and viewings from families throughout the Middle East looking to purchase in Paris.”
Henry adds: “Gulf families have always favoured the lifestyle the city affords and the ease of access it offers into wider Europe. The strong US dollar against the euro has only boosted the city’s appeal.”
Prime prices
Since borders reopened following the pandemic, prime prices in the city have performed strongly in Knight Frank’s residential indices.
Prices across the French capital’s prime arrondissements increased 6.2% in 2022, down only marginally from the 6.3% registered in 2021.
At €20,000 per sq m, luxury prices in Paris are competitive when compared with those in New York at €28,000 per sq m and London at €27,000 per sq m.
Despite mounting economic headwinds Knight Frank forecasts prime price growth of 4% in 2023, putting Paris in joint third place out of 25 global cities.
The next three years will see Paris play host to the 2023 Rugby World Cup, the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and key stretches of the Grand Paris Project, Europe’s largest transport project, will be opened, further boosting the city’s appeal to global investors.
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Photo by Léonard Cotte on Unsplash