Auction website now shows French properties for sale from estate agents and notaires

An online property auction site, initially only for notaires, now sees half of the houses under the hammer coming from estate agencies.

The listings on the site are outside the judicial auctions that notaires also organise.

The latter are ordered by courts and have strict conditions, such as bidding through an avocat only, making them unsuited to an online format.

“Until about a year ago, most properties that were auctioned sold for prices above the estimates,” said Natalie Duny, communications director for Immonot, which runs in conjunction with the auction site itself, 36h-immo.com.

“As most people know, the property market across France has become a bit more complicated in the last year, so now that is not always the case. However, with an auction at least sellers know they have obtained a market price.”

Key to the system is having potential buyers present themselves in front of the notaire for a house viewing, which in the tradition of notarial auctions might be a group visit of interested buyers on a particular day.

Properties usually sold within 28 days

Each property has a starting price for the auction.

Notaires perform a quick check of potential buyers to ensure they have adequate finance lined up, before asking them to sign an agreement expressing their interest in buying the property.

When enough people have done this, the online property auction starts, with most having a deadline of 36 hours to place bids.

The site allow people to search for active and upcoming auctions, and allows them to pick from a list of criteria (location, budget, type of property, etc). You can also use a map to search by location.

The cheapest auction price on a property when The Connexion visited the site was €14,000 for an 82m² property in the Ille-et-Vilaine department and the most expensive - a seven-room villa on the French Riviera - was over €2,000,000.

“Most of the properties on the site are sold within 28 days,” said Ms Duny.

“It seems that auctions attract people who make their minds up quickly.”

Late bids extend deadlines

Usually, if a bid is placed in the last two minutes of an auction, the deadline is extended for another two minutes to see if there are any more bidders.

Notaires or estate agents decide how many people need to express an interest before an auction starts – the minimum is two, but most wait until they have 10.

Bidding can be done from anywhere in the world – but only after a visit to the property and a meeting with the notaire or agent has taken place.

Fees for the site listings are paid by the notaire or estate agent – most have subscriptions that allow them to list five times a year.

When The Connexion looked at the site there clost to 200 properties up for auction.

“It is not for everyone, but we try to make it as easy as possible,” said Ms Duny.

“Sellers can set reserve prices below which they do not sell, and buyers are under no commitment until they win the auction and go in to sign the papers, as with a normal property sale.”

Read more: MAP: French property price variations in 2024 by region