Real Estate in the Île-de-France Region: The Recovery Stalls, Americans Dominate the Paris Market
Between February and April 2026, sales of existing homes fell by 3% year-over-year in the Île-de-France region, according to the Notaires du Grand Paris. Prices, however, have held steady. Behind a recovery that is struggling to gain traction, the study reveals that the high-end Parisian market is increasingly driven by foreign buyers, particularly Americans.
In rugby, they say that an unconverted try is worth nothing. That’s the metaphor the Notaries of Greater Paris are using to describe the spring of 2026: an Île-de-France real estate market that is “struggling to convert the try.” Between February and April, 29,680 sales of existing homes were recorded in Île-de-France, a 3% decline year-over-year. The decline affected both apartments (-3%) and single-family homes (-1%), with a 5% drop in Paris, a 3% drop in the Greater Paris Periphery, and a 1% drop in the Inner Paris Periphery. Only Seine-et-Marne bucked the trend with an increase, while Yvelines saw the sharpest declines.
However, this figure should be interpreted with caution. The start of 2025 was boosted by an anticipation effect linked to the increase in transfer taxes, which temporarily inflated transaction volumes; the comparison therefore starts from a high and atypical baseline. Over a two-year period, volumes are still up 19%, a sign that the recovery that began after the low point of 2023–2024 is continuing. However, this is a slow normalization, lacking real momentum, and fragility remains the dominant factor.
A Stalled Recovery, Stable Prices
As for prices, stability prevails. Year-over-year, they have remained flat across the region: apartment prices have risen by a mere 0.4%, while house prices continue to adjust, falling by 0.9%. In Paris, the price per square meter for pre-owned apartments stands at 9,530 euros, up 0.4% year-over-year. The Inner Suburbs remain on a slight upward trend (+0.7%), the Outer Suburbs are stabilizing, and house prices continue to erode in certain outlying areas. Projections based on preliminary sales agreements indicate little change in apartment prices between now and July, and a continued downward trend for single-family homes.
The current situation does not inspire optimism. Notaries point to a wait-and-see attitude fueled by geopolitical uncertainty, including the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East in late February and its impact on energy prices. Added to this is the recent increase in the European Central Bank’s key interest rates, raised from 2% to 2.25%, which could lead to higher mortgage rates in the coming weeks. All of these factors push back the prospect of a clear recovery and confirm a slow and uncertain normalization process.
In Paris, Americans are driving the high-end real estate market
This is the most unexpected finding of the study’s analysis. In 2025, buyers residing outside France made 2,660 purchases in the Île-de-France region, accounting for just 2.2% of sales. While a niche market on a regional scale, it is crucial in Paris: the capital accounts for 60% of these purchases by non-residents, which represent 6.9% of Parisian sales.
Above all, their share is growing against the general trend: over the past five years, purchases by non-resident foreigners have increased by 10 percent, while the Île-de-France market as a whole contracted by 30 percent. This non-resident market is divided almost equally between 1,340 purchases made by foreigners and 1,310 by French nationals living outside France, although the latter have declined by 34% since 2020, in contrast to the upward trend among foreign buyers. Beyond Paris, the Hauts-de-Seine department accounts for 14% of these purchases, far ahead of the other departments in the Île-de-France region.
These buyers stand out for their significantly higher budgets. Median prices range from 351,000 euros for Belgians to 713,600 euros for Americans, whereas a buyer residing in France spends a median of 285,000 euros. And it is precisely the Americans who dominate: as the leading non-resident foreign nationality in Paris with 220 purchases—accounting for 26% of foreign purchases in the capital—they have a median budget of 864,000 euros for a 65-square-meter property. Italians, Lebanese, Germans, and Belgians round out the top five, but none come close to the purchasing power of buyers from across the Atlantic.
While the mass market in the Île-de-France region is struggling to regain its footing, the ultra-luxury segment in Paris is increasingly speaking English. Two markets, two trajectories: fragility on one side, and the resilience of international high-net-worth individuals on the other.
