Tips to negotiate the price of a property

We were chatting with a couple at the market in Antibes last month, the kind of conversation that starts with the weather and ends with mortgage rates, and they asked us the same question we get almost every time someone learns we have been renting out our little studio for fifteen years: is it still possible to talk a seller down on price around here? Short answer: yes, more than at any point in the last decade, but not everywhere and not by guessing.

Buyers in France currently have the widest negotiating margin seen in fifteen years, according to the LPI-iAD barometer published in April 2025: an average of 8.4% off the initial asking price, split between 9.4% on houses and 7.3% on apartments. That average hides big differences by condition, energy rating and how long a property has sat on the market, which is exactly where a buyer’s real leverage lives.

Here is what we have learned, partly from our own purchase years ago and partly from watching the Riviera market since:

• Negotiation margins are wider on houses than on flats, and wider still on properties with a poor energy performance diagnosis (DPE).
• Notaire fees (roughly 7 to 8% on an older property) are fixed by law and cannot be negotiated, unlike the sale price itself.
• A compromis de vente (preliminary sale agreement) usually comes with a deposit of 5 to 10% of the price, held by the notaire, not the seller.
• The strongest opening offers are backed by comparable sales data, not by a gut feeling about what “seems fair.”

Is it a buyer’s market or a seller’s market right now?

It depends entirely on the property and the town, which is the first thing we tell anyone who asks us this. On the French Riviera specifically, prices have kept climbing in several sought-after pockets: Nice apartments reached around €5,130 per square metre in January 2025, up 1.9% year on year, while Antibes posted a 3.8% increase driven largely by its historic centre (Living on the Côte d’Azur, 2025 market analysis). That looks like a seller’s market on paper.

Yet the national negotiation margin tells a different story underneath: buyers, on average, still manage to shave close to a tenth off a house price before signing. The two facts coexist because desirable, well-priced, well-rated properties barely move, while anything overpriced, poorly insulated or sitting unsold for months gives a buyer real room to push.

Reading a property before you make an offer

Before we even think about a number, we look at how long the listing has been up and ask the agent directly, since a property that has lingered for four or five months rarely holds its asking price. We also ask for the DPE rating: a home graded F or G tends to attract far softer offers, because the buyer knows renovation costs are coming.

Comparable sales, known in France as prix de vente réels, are public through the notaires’ own DVF database and through immobilier.notaires.fr, and they are worth checking before any figure gets discussed out loud. A seller’s asking price and the actual price paid for a similar flat two streets away can differ by a surprising margin.

Working with a notaire, and possibly an agent

A notaire is not optional in France, every sale goes through one, and theirs is a role of legal neutrality rather than advocacy for either side. That is different from an estate agent, who represents the seller’s interest even when they are pleasant and helpful to you as a buyer. We always remind ourselves of that distinction before we get too friendly with an agent during a visit.

A good agent still earns their commission by knowing the micro-market: which street floods, which building has an ageing lift, which co-ownership charges are creeping up. Ask pointed questions rather than general ones, and treat vague answers as a signal to dig further on your own.

Building an offer that gets taken seriously

Our own rule of thumb, formed after renting and later buying our studio, is to never open with a number we cannot justify out loud in one sentence. “Comparable sales on this street average 6% below asking” works. “It felt a bit high” does not.

The table below summarises the average margins by property type, based on the April 2025 LPI-iAD barometer, as a starting reference point rather than a rule that applies everywhere identically.

Property type	Average margin off asking (2025)	What tends to widen it
Houses	9.4%	Poor DPE, long time on market, needed renovation
Apartments	7.3%	High co-ownership charges, ground floor, no lift
National average	8.4%	Widest margin recorded in 15 years

Source: LPI-iAD barometer, April 2025, cited via Cafpi and FranceTransactions.com.

Once you agree on a figure: the compromis and the deposit

In France, an accepted offer typically leads to a compromis de vente, the preliminary contract, rather than a straight handshake deal. It usually includes suspensive clauses, most commonly one tied to mortgage approval, that let you walk away without penalty if financing falls through. A deposit of 5 to 10% is then held by the notaire, not paid directly to the seller, until the final signing (acte authentique).

We would rather lose a property we liked than sign something we did not fully understand, and that has served us well twice over the years.

Knowing when to walk away

Getting emotionally attached to four walls is easy, we have done it ourselves, but a property is still a financial commitment before it is anything else. If a seller will not move at all and the comparable sales do not support their price, walking away is not failure, it is the negotiation working as intended.

A few honest answers to common questions

How much below asking should I offer first? Somewhere close to the average for your property type (7 to 9% in 2025) is a reasonable starting point, adjusted up or down based on the DPE, condition and time on market.

Are notaire fees negotiable? No. They are set by a national scale and calculated on the final sale price, so the only way to reduce them is to negotiate the price itself.

What if the seller refuses to budge? Look again at the comparable sales data before deciding whether to hold firm, meet partway, or move on to another property.

Can I negotiate things other than price? Yes, the completion date, included furniture or appliances, and who covers certain diagnostic costs are all fair game alongside the headline figure.

None of this replaces a proper conversation with your own notaire or broker about your specific situation, we are two retirees who have been through the process ourselves, not real estate professionals, and every negotiation depends on details a general article cannot see. If financing is your next step once a price is agreed, we go into more depth on that in our piece on financing a property purchase.

Published 3 October 2023. Last updated 29 July 2026.
Sources: LPI-iAD barometer (April 2025, via Cafpi.fr and FranceTransactions.com); immobilier.notaires.fr; Living on the Côte d’Azur, French Riviera market analysis 2025.