Following in the footsteps of their British cousins, Canadians are buying up vacation property in France in droves.
They are mostly aging and affluent and don't mind flying thousands of miles to bask under the French sun.
Taking advantage of e-mail and Internet armchair shopping, they are buying up old farmhouses in Provence, town houses in Languedoc-Roussillon, and even small castles in Midi-Pyrenees, as easily as they might buy property in the picturesque British Columbian interior or Gulf Islands.
Predictably, they say they are drawn to the charm of the French countryside by the local foods and wines, beautiful centuries-old buildings and enlightened French attitudes or the joie de vivre.
But mostly, they are attracted by real estate that is cheap compared with close-to-home property.
"There is so much history and culture in France compared to Canada because it's so much older," said Sheila Rambeau, who over the Christmas holidays was engaged to be married in France bid on property near Bergerac the following day.
"I love exploring all the little villages. I love cooking too. I could go to a market every day," she said. "It's certainly cheaper than if we bought a place on the west coast of Canada."
She said the rent on her apartment in Vancouver's downtown Coal Harbor district is higher than the mortgage payment on her French retreat.
She concedes that comparably priced vacation properties can be found in Canada, but notes rural towns here are widely dispersed. In contrast to the closely clustered villages in France, rural residents in Canada are often isolated, often requiring long drives to visit the nearest neighbor.
The proximity of towns in France offers vacationers more shopping and dining opportunities without going to a large city, said Rambeau.
Also, it is hard to compare these properties to Canadian real estate because there are no 400-year-old farmhouses in western Canada, said Anne Marie Lawrence, a Vancouverite who organized a social club for Canadians who vacation regularly in France to swap stories.
British Columbia "is beautiful, but France has a long history ... When I stand where all those people have been, a tingle goes up my spine," she said.
Her club has grown to 100 members in eight years, and next month French Consul-General Jean-Yves Defay will be a guest speaker.
"It is a very diverse group, persons from different sectors of life," Defay said. "When you're Canadian, you go from Vancouver to Montreal. It doesn't take much longer to go to Paris. And it's sometimes less expensive to fly to Europe than across Canada."
"It's an alternative to Palm Springs [California]," said Alex Kerr, a 56-year-old publicist who bought a 300-year-old renovated barn near Carcassonne two years ago.
Paul Deggan, a 71-year-old artist from Bowen Island, British Columbia with a keen interest in French painters, bought a farm in Auvergne on the edge of a medieval village and turned it into an art center offering summer workshops.
He sees Canadians moving in where young French people are leaving, causing some to grumble that villages are being taken over by vacationers, but he's not concerned.
"The young French in Auvergne are leaving because it offers no challenges for the future in view of the sort of education they're getting these days," said Deggan. "They don't all want to be farmers."
Some say the trend is fleeting, however. Already, some regions have become too pricey. France's high-speed trains are creating more domestic commuters, and the strengthening euro is threatening to curb transatlantic travel.
"I've seen prices go up significantly in recent years," said Linda Alexander, who hopes to buy soon in France. "I don't think there are a lot of bargains anymore, but prices are still reasonable."
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
Industrial production expanded 22.31 percent annually last month to 107.51, as increases in demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove demand for locally-made chips and components. The manufacturing production index climbed 23.68 percent year-on-year to 108.37, marking the 14th consecutive month of increase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. In the first four months of this year, industrial and manufacturing production indices expanded 14.31 percent and 15.22 percent year-on-year, ministry data showed. The growth momentum is to extend into this month, with the manufacturing production index expected to rise between 11 percent and 15.1 percent annually, Department of Statistics
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald