Buying Property in France as a Foreigner: The 2026 Guide

Yes, you can. France sets no nationality or residency condition on buying property: a buyer living in New York, Dubai or Singapore signs the same deed, pays the same purchase taxes and holds the same title as a French citizen. What catches foreign buyers out is not the law but the way the market works. There is no central listing database, the sale runs through a notaire rather than an escrow company, it usually takes two to three months between the signed pre-contract and the keys, and an existing home costs roughly 7% to 8% on top of its price in taxes and fees.

This guide follows the order in which you will meet each step, with the checks we run for our own international clients. We are Homelike Home, a French buyer’s agent (chasseur immobilier) that has searched and negotiated only for buyers since 2003. Tell us about your project and we will search, visit and negotiate in France while you stay where you are.

Key facts before you start

• Who can buy: anyone, resident or not, whatever their nationality.
• How long it takes: usually two to three months from the signed pre-contract to the final deed.
• Purchase costs: about 7% to 8% of the price for an existing property, 2% to 3% for a new build.
• Borrowing: total repayments capped at 35% of income, insurance included, over 25 years in most cases.
• Deposit for non-resident borrowers: typically 20% to 30% of the price.
• Who works for whom: the estate agent represents the seller, the notaire is neutral, and only a buyer’s agent is on your side.

Step 1: sort out your financing before you look

Financing is not the last step of a French purchase, it is the foundation. A buyer with a solid, documented budget regularly secures a property ahead of someone who fell for it first but was less prepared. Start with the rules, because in France they are set by regulation rather than negotiated with a lender.

The Haut Conseil de stabilité financière (HCSF) caps total debt repayments at 35% of net income, borrower insurance included, and loan terms at 25 years, extended to 27 in some off-plan or renovation cases. Banks may go beyond these limits only for a limited share of their lending. French banks do lend to non-residents, usually against a personal contribution of 20% to 30%, but fewer lenders will look at the file. A broker who handles expatriate applications knows which banks are open to your nationality and income currency.

Three details save time later. Once you receive a loan offer, French law makes you wait ten days before accepting it, so build that into your timeline. Borrower insurance is effectively required, but you are free to choose an insurer other than the bank’s, which can lower the cost. And if your income is not in euros, the exchange rate can move meaningfully between offer and completion: a forward contract with a currency specialist fixes your cost in advance. Cash buyers have paperwork too, since the notaire is legally required to verify where the funds come from, so keep every transfer documented.

Step 2: choose the area, then learn how the market works

Start from the life you want rather than from a map. One of our recent American clients had a single requirement for Paris: be within ten minutes’ walk of a park or the Seine, to run in the morning and walk the dogs at night. Working from a typical day rather than a list of arrondissements opened up far more of the city, and the search ended a few steps from the Champ-de-Mars. If you are still weighing regions, our guide to the best places to live in France compares cities through the lens of daily life.

Then adjust your expectations about how properties reach buyers. France has no MLS. Homes are listed by competing agencies, on portals such as SeLoger, Leboncoin and Bien’ici, through notaires and directly by private sellers, sometimes at different prices under different mandates. Advertised prices are usually shown FAI, meaning the agency fee is already included. The agent who shows you a property works for the person selling it, a point we unpack in buyer’s agent vs real estate agent in France. The best-priced homes can be under offer within 48 hours, and some never reach a portal at all, which is the real handicap of searching from abroad.

Step 3: the buying process, from offer to keys

Once you have found the property, the sequence is set by law and rarely varies. Our glossary of French property terms translates each document you will be asked to sign.

1. The written offer (offre d’achat). You set out the price, how you will finance it and any conditions. Nothing should be paid at this stage.
2. The pre-contract. Most sales use a compromis de vente, which binds both parties; some use a promesse unilatérale de vente, where the seller commits and you hold an option. It includes the seller’s diagnostic reports and the conditions under which you can walk away, the most important being mortgage approval. A deposit, commonly 5% to 10% of the price, is held in escrow.
3. The 10-day cooling-off period. From the day after you receive the signed document, you can withdraw for any reason, without penalty, and recover your deposit.
4. The notaire’s checks and your loan. Over the following weeks the notaire verifies title, planning status, existing mortgages and co-ownership records, and asks the town whether it intends to use its pre-emption right. Meanwhile you secure your loan within the deadline set in the pre-contract.
5. The final deed (acte authentique). You wire the balance and the fees to the notaire’s account in advance, sign, and receive the keys. If you cannot travel, you can sign through a power of attorney prepared with the notaire. The registered title follows once the sale has been recorded, which can take several months.

Two things surprise buyers used to other systems. The notaire is a public officer who acts for the transaction, not for you, and will not tell you whether the price is right. And the deed is drawn up in French, the only version with legal force, so arrange a sworn translator or an interpreter if you want to follow every clause.

Step 4: what it really costs on top of the price

Cost	Typical level	What to know
Notaire fees and transfer taxes, existing property	About 7% to 8% of the price	Mostly taxes. Most départements have used a temporary option, open until 2028, to raise their share to 5%.
Notaire fees, new build from a developer	About 2% to 3%	VAT is already included in the price.
Estate agency fee	Usually inside the advertised price	Check whether the listing says FAI (fees included).
Buyer’s agent fee	From 2.90% down to 1.00% at Homelike Home	Decreasing scale, due only when the final deed is signed.
Mortgage costs	Depends on the loan	Guarantee or mortgage registration, arrangement fee and insurance. Compare offers on the TAEG, the French APR, which includes them.
Works and furnishing	Property by property	Price them before you make an offer, not after.

On a €600,000 apartment in an older building, transfer taxes and notaire fees therefore come to roughly €42,000 to €48,000, payable at completion on top of the price. We break each of these lines down, with what is negotiable and what is not, in our detailed guide to the cost of buying property in France. France also has no tradition of systematic structural surveys, so for an old house or a building showing signs of wear, paying an architect or a trusted contractor to visit before you sign is money well spent.

Step 5: the checks that protect you before you sign

The seller must provide a technical file (dossier de diagnostic technique) with the pre-contract. Depending on the age, type and location of the property, it covers:

• the energy performance certificate (DPE), required for every sale;
• asbestos for buildings whose permit predates July 1997, and lead paint for those built before 1949;
• gas and electrical installations more than 15 years old;
• termites in designated areas, and the natural and technological risks statement;
• the septic system for houses not connected to mains drainage;
• the Carrez-law floor area for apartments in a co-ownership building.

Read the DPE closely, especially if you might let the property. Homes rated G can no longer be offered on a new lease since January 2025, F-rated homes follow in 2028 and E-rated homes in 2034. Since 1 January 2026, electricity weighs less in the calculation, so some electrically heated homes have moved up a class without any work: ask for a certificate issued after that date.

For an apartment, the co-ownership (copropriété) documents matter as much as the flat itself. The general meeting minutes of the last three years show which works are voted or coming, from roof to façade, and whether a dispute is running; the service charge statements show what you will pay each year. This is also where lifestyle plans meet building rules. Our foreign clients regularly fall for Haussmann buildings, then discover that an air-conditioning unit cannot simply be hung on a protected façade or a continuous balcony. Checking the co-ownership rules before the offer avoids that disappointment. For a house, ask the town hall for a certificat d’urbanisme if you plan an extension or a pool.

Step 6: owning from abroad, tax and inheritance

Buying is only the start of your relationship with the French tax office. As an owner you pay taxe foncière every year. Taxe d’habitation no longer applies to main homes but still applies to second homes, and towns in high-demand areas can increase it by up to 60%. If you let the property, the rent is taxable in France, where non-residents pay income tax at a minimum rate of 20% plus social charges, and the choice between furnished and unfurnished letting changes the result considerably. Net French real estate above €1.3 million falls within the property wealth tax (IFI).

When you sell, the gain is taxed at 19% plus social charges, which are lower if you are covered by an EU, EEA or Swiss social security system. Holding the property longer reduces the bill: the income tax part disappears after 22 years and social charges after 30. Your own country may also tax the income or the gain, with a double tax treaty usually preventing you from paying twice. Americans face an extra layer of reporting, which we cover in our guide to investing in French real estate from the United States.

Finally, decide how you will hold the property before you sign, not after. French inheritance law protects a share of the estate for children, its interaction with your home country’s rules varies, and buying in one name, jointly or through a French property company (SCI) has lasting consequences. Have a notaire or a cross-border adviser review this with you at the pre-contract stage. This section is a general overview, not personal tax advice.

Step 7: buying from another country with a buyer’s agent

Distance is the real obstacle for a foreign buyer. From the US West Coast, the overlap with a French agency’s working day is barely two hours, and from almost anywhere, flying in for a viewing takes longer than a well-priced apartment stays on the market. A buyer’s agent closes that gap by being on the ground in your place.

At Homelike Home, the work starts with a precise brief and an exclusive three-month search mandate. Our property finders then cover the whole market in their area, including off-market properties, visit before you do and send honest reports with photos and video within 24 to 48 hours. We schedule video calls around your time zone, negotiate in your name, work with English-speaking notaires and brokers, and follow the file to the final deed, which you can sign by power of attorney. Our fee runs on a decreasing scale from 2.90% to 1.00% and is due only at completion; in Paris, searches start from a budget of €350,000. You will find our buyer’s agents across France in Paris and Greater Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Nice, Nantes, Normandy, Brittany, the Basque Country and beyond.

Bottom line

Buying property in France as a foreigner is legally simple and practically demanding. Secure your financing first, remember that the estate agent works for the seller and the notaire for the transaction, budget 7% to 8% on top of the price for an existing home, read the diagnostics and co-ownership minutes before you commit, and settle your tax and ownership structure before the pre-contract. The rest is a matter of being on the ground at the right moment. Contact Homelike Home and a buyer’s agent who knows your target city will start from your brief.

Frequently asked questions

Can I live in France if I buy property?

Owning a home does not give you the right to live in France. Nationals of countries outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland are limited to 90 days in any 180-day period, with or without a short-stay visa depending on their nationality. Beyond that they need a long-stay visa, such as the visitor visa for people who will not work in France. Your property can support the application as proof of accommodation, but it does not replace it.

Can non-EU citizens buy property in France?

Yes, on exactly the same terms as French and European buyers. The differences come later. Owners who are not covered by an EU, EEA, Swiss or UK social security system pay higher social charges on French rental income and capital gains. A seller living outside the EU and EEA also generally has to appoint a tax representative when selling for more than €150,000.

How can a US citizen buy property in France?

Through the same process as any other buyer, with three American specifics. Not every French bank accepts US clients because of FATCA reporting, so a broker used to American files saves weeks. The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income, so French rental income is declared in both countries, with the Franco-American treaty preventing genuine double taxation through a foreign tax credit. And once your French accounts exceed $10,000 combined at any point in the year, they must be reported on an FBAR.

Is it easy to buy property in France?

The legal side is predictable and protective for buyers. The hard part is practical: good properties sell quickly in a fragmented market, most documents are in French, and every step assumes you can visit, sign and react at short notice. Buyers who prepare their financing early and have someone on the ground find it far simpler than those who manage everything from abroad.