Thursday 21 August 2008

Holiday rentals in Burgundy

We may have seen a slow down this year in the interest by Brits to buy property in France, however Gites (country holiday rentals) in Burgundy continue to be in demand. In the region of the Brionnais and Charolais where simplyburgundy specialises in the sale of country properties most Gite owners are experiencing a very good year for rentals. The region has so much to offer for couples, groups of friends and families, in general, prices are very competitive compared to other regions of France. It makes very good sense to do your homework and check out a number of websites, look for feed back, check to make sure you are not paying well over the top for a basic Gite when a similar gite can be rented for much less with the same quality of presentation. Recently I read in one of the French property publications that a French Gite owner increased their occupancy rate just by putting the price up to match the price set by a local British Gite owner and likewise aimed his marketing in a more efficient manner. A very good site for cost comparison is the site Gite de France, this association has been around a long time and normally has a regular advertising clientele, if prices are set sensibly a good return can be had by most gite owners, the numbers visiting France and requiring rental accommodation is forever increasing, it is not only Brits that look for such accommodation, they come as far a field as Australia and Japan. When clients make contact with us regarding the purchase of a property, they often look to stay in the region for a week, they very often ask us to recommend a local Gite which we are more than pleased to arrange for them. We are considering adding Gite and Chambres d'hote recommendations to our site, hopefully we will have progressed sufficiently with this that by the end of the year when we will have a selection on our site to choose from.
Property in Burgundy still offers good value, prices have adjusted downwards in reaction to the market and further negotiation is possible on certain properties, I believe the French property market has corrected very quickly and this is shown in the number of Europeans still interested in buying, especially those who have adopted the Euro, unfortunatly the Brits are burdened with a weak pound sterling at the moment, hopefully that will correct in the near future, maybe the good rental income as a gite could make the investment a sound one, even with a weak pound.