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The Average Price for a Home in 2024: US vs. France

August 30, 2024

5 min Read

Written by Andrew Lisa

Edited by Gary Dudak

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Anyone considering investing in, moving to, or retiring in France has good taste in homes away from home. It’s a country of wealthy, modern cities and historic medieval villages. From world-class vineyards to destination beach resorts, France is a global epicenter of culture, cuisine, arts and influence.

But what does it cost to purchase a home there compared to the U.S.? Well, comparing can be a challenge, but let’s give it a shot.

The French System Muddles Trans-Atlantic Comps Analysis

If you’re searching for consistent, real-time home values in France, prepare for a frustrating real estate research session — especially if you’re an American used to pursuing platforms like Zillow that present uniform pricing data.

According to the Paris Property Group, “The fragmented French market can make that a formidable task. The French real estate market does not operate through a Multiple Listing System, or MLS, with agents sharing all the listings of available properties (this is the system in most US markets). Rather, individual agencies only list their own properties. They can’t and won’t show you properties listed elsewhere, though sometimes properties are listed with more than one agency — which makes for even quicker sale, before you have a chance to make your move.”

It continues, “There are also a number of listing sites in France, each with their own property ads, each with their own search capabilities. Some agencies list on all of them, or one of them, or none of them, depending on how they choose to market the individual property. Many properties change hands without ever being publicly listed; many sellers choose not to work with agents at all.”

Fewer Sales and Falling Prices

Despite France’s hodgepodge of property value reporting mechanisms, one undeniable pattern has emerged nationwide — the country’s housing market is in a super-cooling phase.

In June, Global Property Guide chronicled an environment of “continuously falling prices and slowing construction activity… with no sharp reversals expected until major decreases in interest rates and acceleration of macro-economic growth.” The international real estate data and research firm revealed double-digit, year-over-year percentage point price decreases across metropolitan France.

Le Monde concurred, writing, “The significant fall in real estate prices, already observed in the Paris region since the fall of 2022, is now seen throughout France.”

It’s not just sale prices that are cratering — sales in general are too. Le Monde says transaction volume crashed by 26% between 2021 and 2023 across France. With expensive loans and cheap properties ruling the day, the country’s real estate market is a cash buyer’s paradise — but a grinding struggle for everyone else.

Euros per Square Meter to Dollars per Square Foot

Despite a prolonged period of high interest rates, the U.S. housing market is moving in the opposite direction. Zillow data shows that average home values rose by 3.3% over the last year to $362,481.

The absence of a French MLS equivalent makes it hard to establish a comparable national average list or sale price for France. However, that doesn’t mean the two countries’ real estate markets are impossible to compare for those willing to do some international numerical conversions.

A Tale of 2 Very Expensive Cities

Global Property Guide reports that the average price for existing homes in Île-de-France — the equivalent of the Paris metro region and the country’s wealthiest and most populous area — was 6,120 euros, or $6,645, per square meter in Q1 2024. In U.S. real estate terms, that’s $617 per square foot.

According to the St. Louis Fed, the average price in the U.S. equivalent of Île-de-France — the New York City Metro Region — is a more forgiving $534 per square foot. In Paris proper, the average price converts to $957 per square foot compared to $1,533 per square foot in New York County, which covers Manhattan.

The result is that while the New York City Metro region is more affordable than Paris metro, the Big Apple itself is far more expensive than the City of Light.

‘Sister City’ Comparisons

Another telling information source is Long Term Rentals in France, which used the most recent National Body of Notaires data to create a map-based graphic showing median sale prices for existing homes in several French cities. GOBankingRates converted the price in euros to dollars and compared them to the average current values of homes in their comparable U.S. ‘sister cities.’ Here are four sets of examples: