No 'tyre kickers' need apply on Côte d'Azur, says ISABEL MORTON

ACCORDING to one Côte d’Azur property agent I spoke with this week, the Irish think that they are so clever, they can “buy at half the price and sell at double the price”.

I could hardly disagree or take umbrage on behalf of my countrymen, as the description, although perhaps a little harsh, sounded spot on. The only argument I had with the agent was his use of the present tense; surely we no longer considered ourselves as property players?

Apparently, we have not entirely given up – some are still viewing without any real intention of buying. “They arrive to Nice for the long weekend and spend a couple of days shopping and another day or two visiting properties. It’s a good way to amuse yourself and pass the time, no?”

And, indeed, it is a lovely way to "pass the time", as unlike in Ireland, viewing properties on the French Riviera is all done by appointment with selling agents, who, having first established your budget and requirements, will usually collect you from the airport or your hotel and spend the day giving you a guided tour of properties you might not otherwise be able to view except in the glossy pages of Residence.

However, before you invent a fictitious budget and book your cheap Ryanair flight, be warned: estate agents here earn approximately 6 per cent of the property sale price and don’t like wasting their time on “tyre kickers”.

Experience in dealing with clients from all over the world has taught them to be able to “smell a serious buyer” from a mile away, regardless of their budget or their nationality.

Unlike other property markets, the French Riviera has its own microclimate, and has been a fashionable holiday destination since Victorian times. Different nationalities come and go (including the Irish) but the Côte d’Azur carries on regardless.

In the past year or so, there are far fewer Italians and far more Norwegians, and the usual Swiss-based international set, but other than that, the Russians still dominate the French Riviera property market, with other eastern European countries such as Kazakhstan and Ukraine following their lead.

Apart from a blip in 2009, when the Côte d’Azur briefly felt the cold winds of the global economic crisis, the only other hiccup was last September, when the French government announced a change in CGT (capital gains tax) laws.

Where it was once a case of having to own a secondary property for a minimum of 15 years in order to avoid being liable for CGT, it has now been extended to double that time before you are exempt.

At the time, there was the expected increase in the number of holiday homes put on the market at low prices by vendors hoping to sell quickly and avoid the tax, but, as sales had to be completed by the deadline of the end of February 2012, few could manage it and the market has already returned to normal.

According to Guillaume Turquoise of Agence Kapnist on Cap d’Antibes, the change in CGT laws meant little to his clients, 80 per cent of whom are Russian. Following the oligarchs, wealthy middle-class Russians favour the Caps (St Jean Cap Ferrat and Cap d’Antibes) and, as the agent admitted: “Without the Russians, we are dead. They dominate the property market on the ‘Caps’.”

Turquoise explained how he is now dealing with second-generation Russians, who are both wealthy and educated, and are less brash and more sophisticated than their parents’ generation.

Further back from the coast, in Mougins, Alexandra Merz, managing director and partner with LF Properties, agreed that the Russian buyer is still very strong, but her client base is far more diverse.

With two-thirds of the properties in the Mougins area listed as secondary homes, Merz too noticed the temporary increase in properties on the market once the new CGT laws were announced, but explained that the particularly mild weather in January and February this year attracted additional potential buyers to the French Riviera.

She believes that those who were in financial trouble have already sold and that property prices on the Côte d’Azur are going up again, as there is a shortage of good properties and a marked increase in the number of buyers, particularly in the €1-3 million range.

Indeed, Merz has been so busy organising viewings in one property she has on the market for €1.55 million that she has had to resort to Irish-style open viewings to avoid having to stay there all day.

Whatever about Irish estate agents, I can think of a few Irish vendors who would happily sleep stark naked on a cold concrete floor in an empty shell anywhere in Ireland, if they thought they could generate that sort of interest in a property sale.

* Isabel Morton is a property consultant