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Are these the most desirable places in France to have a second home?

For most French people, the ideal second home is by the sea. But which of the country's stunning coastal locations make the top of the list?

Published: 29 June 2017 13:28 CEST
Are these the most desirable places in France to have a second home?
Photo: AFP
The French have revealed the places they consider most desirable to own a second home and the top ten are all by the sea. 
 
Surveying around 1,200 web users, real estate website Explorimmo discovered where in France the French dream most of owning a second home. 
 
Top of the list was the Bassin d’Arcachon (see below) on the south west coast of France and just an hour from Bordeaux, with 21 percent of the people surveyed naming this as the place they most want to own a second home. 
 
And you can see why when you look at the pics.
 
(Graeme Churchard/Flickr)
 
(Bassin d'Arcachon. Photo: Twin Loc/Flickr)
Le bassin d’Arcachon. Photo:  JPC24M/Flickr 
 
After Arcachon,the most popular place for a second home in France was the chic Normandy coastal resort of Deauville.
 
The fact it is roughly two hours from Paris by car and slightly less by train has meant Deauville has been hugely popular with the capital's posher residents for decades.
 
Just check out the number of designer stores in town.
 
Photo: Thegoodlifefrance/Wikicommons
 
Deauville beach. Photo: Pinpin/WikiCommons
 
Unsurprisingly a Mediterranean location featured high on the list with the fishing port of Cassis making it to third place. 
 
Cassis. Photo: Amanda Snyder/Flickr
 
In fourth place was Sainte Maxime (16,5%) which lies on the French Riviera in between Toulon and Cannes.
 
(Saint-Maxime. Photo: Office de Tourisme Saint-Maxime/Facebook)
 
In fifth was the popular holiday island of Ile de Ré (16%) just off La Rochelle on the west coast of France.
 
Photo: Ile-de-Re. Giancarlo Foto4U/FLickr
 
Sixth was Biarritz (15%) – on the south west Basque Coast, which is home to some of the best beaches in the country.
 
Photo: Florian PépellinWikiCommons
 
Seventh was Quiberon (13%) a fairly wild peninsula on the southern coast of Brittany, which is also home to some stunning beaches.
 
 
(Photo: Peter Stenzel)
 
Then in eighth was Saint-Jean de Luz (12,5%), not far from Biarritz on the south west Basque Coast.
 
Photo: Aslak Raanes/Flickr
 
The ninth most popular place was Ramatuelle (12%), near Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera.
 
Ramatuelle. Photo: PasabanaWikiCommons
 
And finally Porto-Vecchio (11%) in southern Corsica was the tenth most desirable place in France to have a holiday home.
 
(AFP)
 
Over the past 12 months, the market for second homes has started to bounce back since a dip that started when the financial crisis hit in 2008. 
 
The survey also revealed some other factors the French are taking into consideration when it comes to their second homes. 
 
Apparently most French people believe the ideal second residence would be an apartment rather than a house, and with one out of three of them aiming to buy a second home in the next three years for a maximum budget of €250,000, perhaps this makes sense. 
 
And of course, people want their second home to be easily accessible from their first. Of the people surveyed 41 percent of them said their ideal second residence would be less than three hours away from their main home by car.
 
The survey also showed that 38 percent of people would want to start renting it out quickly to make it profitable. 
 
In 2016, the French there were 3.3 million second homes in France, accounting for 9.4 percent of the country's total housing stock. 
 
French national statistics office Insee describing a second home as “housing used for weekends, hobbies and holidays”, including furnished homes rented out to tourists. 
 
 
 
 
 

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READER QUESTIONS

Does it help with moving to France to be married to a French person?

If you’re a citizen of a country outside the European Union, moving to France to live is administratively much more difficult – but are there any advantages to being married to someone who is French?

Published: 30 May 2024 11:26 CEST
Does it help with moving to France to be married to a French person?

You’ve met, fallen in love with and married a French citizen. Congratulations. 

Unfortunately, that doesn’t give you an automatic right to French citizenship, or even – necessarily – the right to live in France. You will still have some bureaucratic hoops to jump through, even though the process is a little bit less complicated.

You’ll also benefit from having a native French speaker on hand to translate the various forms for you – although unless your Frenchie is actually a lawyer, don’t assume that they are knowledgeable about French immigration law, most people know very little about the immigration processes of their own country (because, obviously, they never have to interact with them). 

Visa

If you were living in France when you did the marriage deed, you’ll have already done the visa thing, anyway. But if you married outside France, and have never lived in France, there are still things to do, including – and most pressingly – getting a visa.

The thing is, being married to a French person isn’t quite the live-in-France carte blanche that some people may think – you still need to go through the visa process and gather documents including your marriage certificate and proof of your spouse’s French nationality.

The main benefit is that anyone who is married to a French citizen can apply for a family visa (sometimes known as a spouse visa). This allows you to come to France without a job and it gives you the right to work.

Residency card

Once you have legally moved to France you can apply for a carte de séjour vie privée et familiale. 

Once your visa (which normally lasts for one year) is nearing expiration, you can apply for the multi-year private and family life residence permit.

You must meet the following conditions  :

  • You must share a common address with your spouse – except in particular circumstances (the government website mentions death of your spouse, or in cases of domestic violence);
  • Your spouse must be French on the day of the wedding and must have retained French nationality;
  • You cannot be married to more than one person;
  • If your marriage was celebrated abroad, then it must be transcribed in the civil status registers of the French consulate so that it is recognised in France.

In either case, you must apply for this document, no earlier than four months and no later than two months before the expiry date of your existing residence document (visa, VLS-TS or permit).

The usual list of reasons for refusal apply: if you have failed to comply with an obligation to leave the country (OQTF); if you have committed forgery and use of false documents; if you have committed a serious criminal offence; if you have committed acts of violence against elected officers, or public officials.

Additional information is available, in French, here. 

The situation is a little different for people who initially entered France without a long-stay visa. Usually, this applies to those from countries who do not benefit from the 90-day rule and are required to get a short-stay visa to enter France. If this is your situation, then when applying for your carte de séjour you will need to prove;

  • You are not living in a state of polygamy;
  • You are married to a French national with whom you have lived together for 6 months in France.

In this instance the first carte de séjour vie privée et familiale will be issued for a year.

Citizenship

Citizenship by marriage is a ‘right’ in the same way that children born in France to foreign parents have a right to be a citizen through the ‘droit du sol’. Yes, it exists – but there are rules, and it’s not automatic.

Applying for citizenship via marriage involves applying for something known as citizenship par Déclaration. This is, arguably, the more simple of the processes available to adults.

It works to the theory that citizenship via marriage is ‘a right’. That, however, doesn’t mean that citizenship will be handed out automatically – there are a number of conditions that you must fulfil, including having a reasonable level of French, and if you either don’t fit the criteria – or, more accurately, do not provide sufficient proof that you do fit the criteria you can and will be rejected.

READ ALSO Are you entitled to French citizenship if you are married to a French person?

If your spouse divorces you, or dies while you are still going through the process then your application may be no longer valid. Equally, if you get divorced within a year of getting French citizenship it’s also possible (although rare) for your citizenship to be annulled.

Divorce

Yes, we’re spoilsports but people who get married do sometimes get divorced and if you are in France on a visa or residency card that is linked to your marital status then getting divorced can affect your right to stay.

This doesn’t mean you will automatically be kicked out of the country if you split up. In most cases it’s simply a question of applying for a new residency permit in your own right – whether you are working, studying or retired.

If you have minor children in France then you have the right to stay even if you don’t meet the criteria for any other type of residency permit.

You can find full information on how to change your status in case of divorce HERE.

What about children?

Any child born to a French citizen has the right to claim nationality, whether or not they were born in France. So, whether you’re French or not has no bearing on that particular situation.

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