Luxury Home Buyers Purchasing 2nd Homes on the French Riviera: 'Trump Effect'

Americans in the market for luxury homes are searching in the French Riviera because of President Trump, according to a real estate expert.

While many Americans are also looking to buy properties overseas because of a strong dollar and low interest rates, one real estate expert says that President Trump’s election has caused a spike in luxury housing sales, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

“My phone started ringing the morning after he became president, and it hasn’t stopped since,” said Adrian Leeds, a Paris-based real estate expert who was born in the United States and is a regular guest on HGTV’s House Hunters International.

“I’m signing contracts every single day from Americans who are either getting the hell out of Dodge or are thinking that they need backup homes. There are people who have profited from the stock market, and they don’t know what effect Trump’s going to have going forward, so they’re looking for somewhere to put their money,” Leeds added.

For prospective home buyers in France, there is no residency requirement to own a home there, and there are low property taxes. However, it is also difficult for many Americans to get a mortgage in France, and properties priced at $1 million or more have a higher tax rate.

Property taxes in France went up by an average of 14.7 percent between 2010-2015, according to English-language French news site the Local.

American homeowners who seek to rent their homes out are taxed on their profits, and people who own their homes for less than 15 years pay a capital gains tax of about 33 percent.

But despite the trade-offs of home ownership in France, real estate agents say it is a great time to buy property in France.

“It is actually a buyer’s market. There are a lot of properties for sale, but it’s also a very stable market,” said Angie Delattre, who works for a luxury property firm that specializes in real estate in the French Riviera.

Some people have decided to give up their homes in favor of traveling the world. One such Maryland couple sold their house and embarked on a journey around the world in search of a new home after Trump’s election.