How to find an apartment worth buying in Paris: arrondissement price first

Can a foreigner buy an apartment in Paris?

Yes. No French restriction on foreigners or non-residents buying residential property was found. A foreign buyer owns directly, on the same terms as a French buyer. What changes the outcome is personal: nationality, residence and matrimonial regime affect how the apartment is held, taxed and passed on, and the notaire examines them at purchase.

Ask the notaire early how your marital regime and home-country rules affect the way the title should be held. Rules in full: foreign property ownership in France and buying property in France as a foreigner.

What do Paris apartments actually sell for per m²?

EUR 9,722 per m² was the median price paid for a Paris apartment in 2025, from 28,715 sales in DVF, the tax administration's record of every registered sale. A quarter sold below EUR 8,240 and a quarter above EUR 11,556. By arrondissement the median runs from EUR 8,037 in the 19e to EUR 14,203 in the 6e.

Sale prices, not asking prices. All twenty arrondissements and the method: Paris price per m² by arrondissement.

How do you check whether a Paris asking price is right?

Divide the asking price by the surface and compare it with the arrondissement's median and middle half. Above the middle half, the flat needs a reason: a high floor with a lift, a balcony, a renovation, a rare view. Check which surface the listing uses: the Carrez surface leaves out areas under 1.80 m of ceiling height, so attic flats look dearer per m².

An arrondissement median still mixes very different streets. That is why a Paris report compares each listing with comparable apartments nearby, not with the citywide figure. You can see how in a real report, page by page.

What does it cost to buy an apartment in Paris?

On a resale, mostly tax. Paris applies the 5.00% departmental rate, giving a global transfer duty of about 6.32% for deeds signed from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2028. Add the 0.10% security contribution and the notaire's regulated fee plus 20% VAT. That is why notaire costs are quoted at 7% to 8% on resales and 2% to 3% on new builds.

The notaire's scale, excluding VAT: 3.870% up to EUR 6,500, 1.596% to EUR 17,000, 1.064% to EUR 60,000 and 0.799% above. A new home sold by a professional within 5 years of completion carries 20% VAT inside the price and only about 0.715% transfer tax. Every line: France property buying costs.

How do Paris estate agents charge?

Freely, but in the open. The law does not cap the fee. The agency must display its maximum fees including tax, every sale advert must say who pays, and when the buyer pays, the fee is shown as a percentage of the price. No money may be demanded before the sale is concluded; the commission is paid after the final deed.

The posted scale is a ceiling, so you can negotiate below it. Agents hold a carte professionnelle from the chamber of commerce and industry and show its number on every document; check it against the CCI register. Details: France real estate agent fees.

What are the steps to buy an apartment in Paris?

Sign a pre-contract, a compromis de vente or a promesse unilatérale, with the seller's diagnostics file attached, including the DPE energy rating. Wait out the 10-day cooling-off period a private buyer has. A deposit of around 5% to 10% is held in escrow, usually at the notaire. Then sign the acte authentique before the notaire, who publishes it in the land register.

Publication is what makes the transfer enforceable against third parties; only a notarial deed can be published. Under a promesse unilatérale the buyer pays an indemnité d'immobilisation, at least 5% if the promise runs longer than 18 months. Detail: the acte authentique explained.

Can you let a Paris apartment?

Long term, yes, under Paris rent control: the base rent may not exceed the reference ceiling. Short term is tighter. A main residence can be let to tourists for at most 90 days a year in Paris. A second home or investment flat needs a change-of-use authorisation with compensation before the first night. Homes rated G can no longer be let long term.

Compensation means converting other non-residential space into housing to offset the home lost. From 2028 the long-let floor rises to E, so F-rated homes drop out too. For the rent side, Global Property Guide puts the Paris average gross yield at 4.69% for Q2 2026, from asking rents against asking prices; it is the publisher's figure, not Brinkman Data's. Net workings: France rental yield guide.

Agent, portals or independent research in Paris?

Each has its own job. The portals show asking prices. A licensed agent finds flats, books viewings and negotiates. The notaire drafts the deed and checks the title. Brinkman Data decides which apartment is worth buying: every listing in your arrondissements and budget, each checked against comparable sales, the five worth buying and the spreadsheet, for $499, paid only by the buyer.

Brinkman Data is not an agent and takes no commission. Every report is built fresh on the apartments for sale that week. See the comparison on how to find a property to buy abroad and what an independent property analyst does.

Header photo: Dale Cruse, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. All credits: image credits.