Property owner at any price | France 2 | Envoyé Spécial

It’s now one of the main preoccupations of the French: accommodation. Six out of ten French people experience difficulties in finding a home. For the moment prices in France remain high and, as the financial press points out, property is a safe haven in times of crisis. For 39% of French people, owning a property is still a priority. To put their dream within their grasp, increasing numbers of buyers are putting their money on new trends. Bargains in the property market, 2012 version, have a point in common: agencies, construction, type of property… the fashion is not to go up the scale, but to reduce costs at every level. In the provinces and the inner suburbs, low cost is flooding the brochures of the builders of individual homes. Cheaper materials, new building techniques: containers, modules as in a construction toy. The aim: a home whose cost does not rise above 100,000 Euros. But at that price, can you build a quality home? Some owners have had nasty surprises. In Paris, the price per m2 remains very high, much higher than the average amount first time buyers can invest. Future owners have no hesitation in living in basements, re-named “under-level”, or former concierges’ quarters. The latest good idea to appear is related to the crisis: the property market is in turmoil and most experts now agree and even predict a fall in prices in 2012. Certain would-be buyers are intending to take advantage of difficulties faced by sellers, encouraged by a new sort of estate agent: property representatives or low cost agents, who take lower commissions than the classic network, who don’t hesitate to slash prices for a quick sale. Olivier Pinte investigates the latest good ideas in the property market.