About 20% of the properties on what many regard as “the most beautiful avenue in the world” -Paris’s Champs-Élysées- are owned by families and investment funds from Qatar, Le Monde reports. The paper says this stems from bilateral agreements signed in the 1990s between France and Qatar that offered tax and other incentives to Qatari citizens wishing to buy property in France, while buyers from other countries, led by the United States, are also prominent.
According to Le Monde’s calculations, shopfronts on the avenue owned by Qataris total at least 390 metres, compared with 1,300 metres for the façades along the entire avenue. The result has been a surge in Champs-Élysées real-estate prices and a gradual decline in the number of people living in the area.
The paper adds that monthly rents for retail units on the avenue range between €1,000 and €1,500 per square metre, while the number of permanent residents has fallen by 50% over the past half-century. It also notes that 36% of apartments around the Champs-Élysées are empty and owned by foreigners who typically visit Paris only a few days a year.