PARIS—Jill Devriendt, director of Coldwell Banker Previews International® for Coldwell Banker France, puts it in simple terms: "Americans tend to want to be near monuments, historical monuments or neighborhoods in protected/listed buildings," she says. And they're finding their wishes in the City of Lights.
On the rebound after a cool post-9/11 period, Paris, with its singular whip of the historic and the contemporary, is again on the rise. "The majority of luxury-market American buyers in Paris are from the East Coast and are senior international business execs looking for a secondary home or base from Paris." Or not. Often enough, buyers are not jet-setting Americans at all, but investors with a different reason for being there. "Perhaps they just love Paris," Devriendt says.
What you get, of course, depends on where you are. "In the 16th and 8th arrondisements (districts), the highest of high-end are brownstone-style mansions" known as htels particuliers, Devriendt says. "In the very sought-after 6th arrondisement it is mostly apartments. The best of the best are top-floor penthouses offering terraces. And yes, it is common that many of these apartment buildings house shops on the street level."
This article provided courtesy of Unique Homes Magazine and does not express the views of Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation.
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