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London suburbs now reach France - 13 December 2007

France and London are connecting in more ways than one these days.

The recent news of the faster Eurostar has raised the prospect of more and more people enjoying a sufficiently rapid journey between London and Paris to start living in one country and commuting to the other. Although the new high-speed trains leaving the gleaming, refurbished St Pancras terminal may reduce travel time by only 20 minutes, that is, it would appear, enough to make a difference.

Property Consultancy Cluttons France certainly holds this view. Director Olivier Morvan said that parts of northern France which were connected to Eurostar would be better for getting to London that places in the south-east of England that were not. "You might as well be living in France where it's a bit cheaper," he concluded.

Indeed, Mr Morvan continued, this is likely to happen: "The London suburbs will grow over the channel for definite. It will make sense for some people to commute to London from northern France. "He added that the possibilities of remote working could enable people to channel-hop every couple of days.

While the north of France will benefit from Eurostar, this is not yet the case for the south, Mr Morvan suggests. He noted that: "Eurostar will not affect southern France yet - the French Riviera as such - because you can't go in a straight line from the north down to the Riviera." Such a scenario might echo concerns of those in northern England that the economic benefits of the Channel Tunnel are concentrated between the two capitals and their hinterlands.

Of course, there are regional variations attached to other aspects of French property, a point made by Obelisk Research. The firm told the Homes Worldwide website that properties in Paris, where prices are high, could be renovated and sold quickly at a profit, whereas those elsewhere were lower but expected to rise, meaning investors thinking of selling should hold on for longer to get a better price.

This tailored approach, depending on the situation of each region, might, by analogy, be compared with catching a slow train or a quick train - the difference, for example, between trundling into London from the Home Counties or hurtling in from under the sea and beyond.

But with new research by Datamonitor showing that France is already among the most popular destinations for UK overseas buyers, there can be no doubt that there are plenty of people looking to climb on board the French property train, whether or not it gets there 20 minutes sooner.

 

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