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The
French climate is very variable and if you are considering a holiday
or buying a property in France it well worth knowing why I think
the Charente Maritime has one of the best climates
in France. The Charente-Maritime is blessed in being just far enough
away from the Pyrenees and yet far enough south with low lying geography
that combines to give it an area with the highest number of average
annual sunshine hours in France except the Mediterranean. La Rochelle
in the Charente Maritime, France enjoys 2331 hours of sunshine a
year on average (21.3% more than Biarritz, France and 22.6% more
than Nantes, France). There is obviously a link between sunshine
and rainfall. La Rochelle has considerably less rain (at 685mm/year)
than Cornwall, UK(Falmouth has 61.4% more) or Biarritz (77.4% more).
Below you will see an average hours of annual sunshine
map for France.....
The above facts about the weather will hopefully
help prevent you making a bad investment but there are other factors
to consider. Spare some thought for the effects of altitude and
how much the temperature drops with height. Think about whether
the violent winds such as the Mistral or traffic congestion in the
summer that affect coastal areas of the Mediterranean would suit
you. The sea has a tremendous moderating affect on the weather and
it amazing how many people are shocked by the extremes of hot in
summer and cold in winter of inland areas. Hence so many French
have deserted these regions and why the coast remains desirable.
Value
for money in France - the Charente-Maritime area still
offers very good value in terms of house prices relative to other
desirable french coastal locations. Average prices attained in Poitou-Charentes
in 2006 for houses were between 1550 and 1600€/m². The
comparable figures for the whole of France were 2150-2200€/m²,
for Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur they were 3200-3250€/m²,
Languedoc-Roussillon 2200-2250€/m², Bretagne and Aquitaine
both 1850-1900€/m².
Home
ownership in France(56%) is much lower than the UK(70%). Levels
of mortgage debt relative to GDP in France are very low compared
to most other european countries. Despite the fact that France has
seen a property bubble develop like other parts of the world the
French President has decided it is time to throw petrol on the fire
and wants to offer income tax relief for mortgage interest for those
who purchase after may 2007. Clearly this may drive prices to even
more unsustainable levels. Great shame they did not think about
just lowering the amount of tax you need to pay to the Notaire on
the purchase of an existing property. We do worry that at some point
property prices (and indeed most other asset classes) in the Western
World will revert to the mean and that process should be fairly
bloody. It looks as if the process is already underway in America
and clearly if the US consumer finally cuts back on spending there
will be few places that will not feel the effect.
Coast
- miles of unspoilt beaches make the Charente-Maritime a favourite
holiday destination. I have already talked about how important proximity
to the sea is in terms of the weather.
Access
is very good with cheap flights to La Rochelle, Bordeaux and Poitiers.
There are excellant motorway links to the channel ports and the
TGV lines that run to La Rochelle, Niort, Angouleme and Bordeaux.
For details on discount travel, low-cost airlines, cheap ferries,
trains and maps click here. For internet
access in the Charente-Maritime there was a convention signed by
the Conseil General and France Telecom and according to that 97%
of the telephone lines will be covered by ADSL by the end of 2005
(87.5% of lines eligible were covered at the end of 2004). There
is a new motorway under construction linking Royan and Saintes with
the East so that driving to the Alps will be a lot easier.
Oysters,
melons, foie gras, wine and cognac are all produced in and around
the region.
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