Let's start with a news flash: 2008 is predicted to be the year that property prices in France will stabilise or even start to fall, after 12 consecutive years of growth. French current affairs magazines recently published a flurry of special issues focusing on the French property market, based on quarterly figures from sources including Notaires de France (the officials responsible for over-seeing all French property transactions), FNAIM (the French estate agents? association) and FONCIA (one of France's leading property sales and management companies).



The reports make sobering reading: their gist is that prices of property in France have finally come down to earth and that 2008 may well be ?l'ann'e de la baisse? (the year of decline), after rises in the order of 140 per cent since 1996. Even eternally optimistic FNAIM president Ren? Pallincourt stated that he ?does not rule out? the possibility of a drop in the value of property in France this year.

Meanwhile, sales of new build property in France are down (a decline of 14 per cent is predicted this year by France's Federation of Promoteurs-Constructeurs) and French interest rates are on the rise (in January 2007, they were at 3.7 per cent for a loan over 15 years; one year on, they had climbed to 4.6 per cent). The number of loans granted nationally has fallen for the first time in ten years, as French banks become increasingly nervous in light of the American sub-prime mortgage crisis.

With fewer French households able to get a foot on the property ladder, developers are cancelling projects for which they fear they will not have enough takers. Agents report that outstanding property in France in the upper price bracket are moving well, but anything poorly located now sits on their books for longer; bog-standard properties no longer cut the French mustard. However, amid the gloom is a glimmer of hope for Brits looking to bag bargain-priced property in France; the fact that France is supposedly poised to enter a new era, property-wise, could be seen as a good thing by house-hunters with an eye for an opportunity.

The pool of property for sale in France priced at ?80,000 or less is set to grow, and VEF founder Trisha Mason observes: ?There are vendors who are prepared to negotiate now, which is certainly a change from previous years. The best deals to be had are from UK vendors, as they're interested in the sterling price they will achieve, and are therefore prepared to reduce the euro price, which they may have set six months previously. It's important for buyers to be ready to purchase: with finance in place, they could negotiate deals of up to 15 per cent reduction with UK vendors, and more than five per cent with French sellers.?

An online search of Latitudes? listings reveals more than 700 properties for sale in France within the ?80,000 price range, ranging from small stone barns to convert (?8,000), through to stone-built one- and two-bedroom village houses to restore (?45,000 to ?70,000), via leaseback studios in alpine ski resorts (?56,500), all the way up to a traditional, renovated stone house in Aveyron with two bedrooms, a bread oven and 2,000 square metres of garden (?78,500).

Most modestly priced are conversion, renovation or modernisation projects, but factor in the expense of plumbing, heating, insulation and electrics, kitchen and bathroom fittings and appliances plus complete redecoration (and of course the labour), and the chances are you could double the initial outlay.

Buying on a shoestring is more feasible in some areas than others; there is not a great deal of property for sale in Provence at ?80,000 or under. Latitudes? site was showing only three at the time of writing: a small, 1950s-built one-bedroom flat in Nice (described as an ?ideal investment property?); a 20-square-metre studio in a residential complex near Sainte-Maxime, half an hour from the coast, or an unattractive-looking one-bedroom house in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. A similar exercise on the VEF site turned up just eight boltholes - in need of serious work.

So which parts of la belle France might offer richer pickings to cash-strapped Brits? According to Notaires de France, several parts of mainland France's 22 regions offer habitable resale homes or brand new, off-plan property for ?80,000. Those happy to buy a period property in France to convert or renovate will find more choice, ditto buyers prepared to compromise on sea or mountain views, proximity to the coast, a ferry port or airport, or a convenient location with easy access to shops, services and public transport. Put simply, your money will stretch further if you moderate your demands.

The areas offering best value for money tend to be rural, quiet, and less well-served when it comes to low-cost flights back to Britain, high-speed TGV train lines to major cities, or even buses to the nearest town. Loz're might be in the south of France, but it is land-locked and happens to be the country's least-populated department, and the pricier regions of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur and Aquitaine are noticeable by their absence.

Fancy an urban pad for weekend breaks? Whether you can find your dream pied-?-terre for ?100,000 depends on the city, location and level of comfort desired. Paris prices per square metre are running at an eye-popping average of ?4,980, and agents contacted groaned when told the ?80k budget: enough said.

Elsewhere, FNAIM figures show that resale apartments cost upwards of an average ?1,250 per square metre in Limoges - in central France - the most accessibly priced of 22 French destinations surveyed, to ?2,420 for the same amount of space in Lyon. Pads can be found for less in Pau, south-west France (?1,675 per square metre), or Perpignan, southern France (?1,590); on the Atlantic coast, Biarritz commands an average ?3,510 per square metre, compared to Bordeaux, estimated in the same fashion at ?2,190. Investors should note that Cannes and Nice performed best in terms of capital growth, with annual increases of 5.6 and 4.8 per cent respectively.

For those looking for a no-hassle second home with ?lock up and leave? convenience, new-build property in France can provide a good choice of style and location within the ?80,000 limit. A petite but perfectly formed studio apartment, in the Alps, near Languedoc's Mediterranean coast, or by the seaside in Brittany, could be just the ticket for Francophiles looking to spend their time in the great outdoors rather than the small indoors.

Those thinking of buying a ski property in France can snap up a unit within a leaseback development with pool, sauna and Jacuzzi in the alpine resort of La Feclaz from ?80,900, but sun worshippers should head south, where Cr'me de Languedoc is promoting a development of luxury apartments opposite the beach in the popular resort of Canet (from ?78,500). Up north in Brittany, A Place in France is marketing one-bedroom apartments in a residence in the market town of Plouescat, five minutes from the beach, from ?64,500, and there are many other options in Normandy, Aquitaine, Charente and Vend'e.

One thing's for sure: whether your taste runs to a renovation or conversion project, an urban pad, rural retreat, alpine bolthole, seaside studio or leaseback money-maker, there is still plenty for the house hunter buying property in France on a budget.