There are no restrictions on the purchase of real estate for third-country nationals in France.

The costs of real estate transaction include the following expenses: attorneys, notaries, registration fees, taxes, fees of real estate agents and other less significant expenses.

The participation of a French notary in the procedure for transferring ownership is mandatory. Notary fees are not limited to notary fees, but include a number of additional amounts, the amount of which is established by the Notary Chamber.

When calculating transaction costs, it is important to distinguish whether the property refers to “new” or “old” objects (built more than 5 years before the sale).

Old object: the total transferring fee, including taxes, ranges from 7% to 10% of the value of the property, excluding agency commission.

New object: 2% is charged in the form of registration fees including taxes plus VAT at a rate of 20% of the purchase price (excluding sales between private individuals). In this case, the commission of a real estate agency is not taken into account.

Agency commission is from 1.5% to 5%, both for the buyer and the seller.

If a mortgage is used to buy real estate, then it should be budgeted for about 2% of the loan amount to cover the proper costs.

When buying property through a company such as Société Civile Immobilière, the amount of costs will be slightly higher than in the above cases.

Despite the fact that a wealth tax in France is levied on a property value of 1.3 million euro, only the amount of 800,000 euro is not taxed at all. The excess rates are applicable from 0.5% to 1.5% (with a total value of over 10 million euro).

Sale of business (companies) as a whole is carried out in accordance with the applicable charters of business structures.