Buying an Apartment in Paris as an American: Prices by Arrondissement, Copropriété Papers and Costs

In Paris almost every home sold is an apartment (29,137 apartment sales against 153 house sales in the 2025 file), and an apartment in a building with several owners is a lot in a copropriété: you buy a private lot and a share of the common parts, and the building has its own rules, its own charges and its own votes on repairs. This guide gives what Paris apartments sold for in 2025, arrondissement by arrondissement, the French rule that guarantees the floor area you pay for, the copropriété papers to ask for, what the purchase costs at the 5 percent rate that applies in Paris, and the rules that limit renting an apartment to tourists. It does not cover mortgages or the American tax return in depth, which have their own guides. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax or financial advice. Rules change and your situation may differ: always verify current requirements with the relevant French authorities or a licensed professional. Apartments currently offered by agencies, including in Paris, are on our homes for sale page.

What Paris Apartments Sold for in 2025

The figures come from the tax administration’s open data on sales recorded in 2025, the DVF géolocalisées file on data.gouv.fr, which we read on October 31, 2026. We kept the sales that carry exactly one apartment, with a built area of 9 square meters or more and a price between 150 and 30,000 euros per square meter. In Paris that leaves 29,137 sales:

• Median price per square meter: 9,712 euros.
• Median apartment: 42 square meters, sold for 395,817 euros.

A median is the middle sale, not a typical apartment, and the file does not record the floor, the condition or the view. By arrondissement:

Source: DVF géolocalisées 2025, sales of one apartment, our calculation. The arrondissements with the fewest sales (the 1st, 2nd and 4th) rest on a few hundred sales each, so their medians move more from year to year.

The spread between the 6th and the 19th is 75 percent. If you are choosing between Paris and another city first, our guide on renting in Paris shows what living there costs without buying, and how to choose where to live in France compares cities.

The Carrez Area: The Square Meters You Pay For

For a lot in a copropriété, French law fixes what the contract must say about size. Article 46 of the law of July 10, 1965 (read on Légifrance on October 31, 2026, in force) provides that:

• any promise to sell and any deed of sale of a lot must state the area of the private part of the lot, and the lack of that statement can make the act void
• if the real area is greater than the area stated, the extra area gives no supplement of price
• if the area is smaller by more than one twentieth (5 percent) than the area stated, the seller bears, at the buyer’s request, a price reduction proportional to the shortfall
• the buyer must bring that action within one year of the notarial deed recording the sale, or lose it.

That is the “loi Carrez” measurement. The same article does not apply to cellars, garages and parking spaces, or to lots below a threshold set by decree. So check that the area is on the compromis, and keep the date of the deed: the one-year clock starts there.

The Copropriété Papers to Ask For

When the lot is in a copropriété, service-public lists the documents the seller supplies for the promise of sale (verified April 10, 2026):

• the copropriété’s fiche synthétique and its règlement de copropriété
• the état descriptif de division
• the minutes of the general assembly for the last three years
• the maintenance log (carnet d’entretien)
• the global technical diagnostic and the multi-year works plan, where they exist
• a pre-état daté prepared by the syndic.

The same page warns that if a party knows information that would be decisive for the other’s consent, such as an expensive works project in the copropriété, large cracks or a structural problem with the building, it must tell the other, and a failure to do so can lead to the annulment of the contract. Read those minutes for votes on works.

• The règlement de copropriété is the compulsory document that organizes life in the building and sets out the rights and duties of owners over private and common parts. It is drawn up by a notaire and published, per service-public (verified July 8, 2026).
• The charges pay for the running of the building. Service-public (verified February 18, 2026) says they fall in two categories, administration, conservation and upkeep of common parts, and collective services and equipment such as heating and hot water, water and the elevator, and that the règlement says which charges fall in which category. Ask for the last year’s call for charges, and for the budget voted.
• The general assembly minutes are a compulsory written record of every decision voted and of the result of each vote. Service-public (verified February 18, 2026) says they establish which decisions are valid and allow them to be challenged in court.

The Diagnostics for an Apartment

The seller attaches a technical diagnostics file to the promise or the deed. For an apartment, service-public lists, among others (verified March 7, 2025):

• the energy performance diagnostic (DPE)
• a lead report if the apartment was built before January 1, 1949
• an asbestos statement if the building permit was issued before July 1, 1997
• the state of the electrical and gas installations if they are more than 15 years old
• risk, noise and termite statements where the zone requires them
• the private area of the lot (Carrez), which the promise or deed must also state.

What the Purchase Costs on Top of the Price

The regulated costs, from official and notarial pages read on October 31, 2026:

• The notaire’s scale (émoluments): 3.870 percent on the first 6,500 euros, 1.596 percent from 6,500 to 17,000, 1.064 percent from 17,000 to 60,000 and 0.799 percent above, plus 20 percent VAT (service-public).
• The départemental tax in Paris: the Chambre des notaires de Paris reports that the Paris area départements, including Paris, moved the rate from 4.5 to 5 percent, using the possibility opened by the 2025 finance law (paris.notaires.fr). It adds the municipal tax of 1.20 percent of the price, a collection charge of 2.37 percent of the départemental tax and a land-registry charge of 0.10 percent of the price.

By our own arithmetic from those rates (not a quote), on a 400,000 euro apartment:

The notaire’s out-of-pocket expenses (débours) come on top. The same Chamber says that costs and taxes on a purchase in the Paris region are now close to 8 percent of the price. The details of each line are in our notaire fees guide.

The Compromis in Paris

The compromis de vente binds both sides. The buyer, a non-professional buying a home, has a 10-day withdrawal right that starts the day after the registered letter notifying the compromis is first presented or handed over in person, and a deposit of about 10 percent of the price is usually held in escrow by the notaire. The parties can add conditions suspensives such as obtaining a mortgage (service-public, verified April 10, 2026). Mortgage options for US citizens are in our French mortgage guide, and the full sequence is in our guide to buying property in France as an American.

Renting It Out to Tourists: What Paris Allows

Many buyers hope to cover the cost by renting short term. The City of Paris sets strict rules, per its page on furnished tourist rentals (updated April 20, 2026) and service-public (verified May 21, 2026):

• Main residence: you can rent it as a furnished tourist rental for up to 90 days a year. A main residence is a home you occupy at least eight months a year.
• Any other apartment, such as a second home: you need a change-of-use authorization with compensation, which means converting non-residential space into housing, before you register it, and the rental may only start once all permits are issued.
• Registration: an online declaration gives a registration number that must appear in every listing.
• The building’s rules: since November 21, 2024, new copropriété by-laws must say whether furnished short-term rentals are allowed, and older by-laws may be amended to forbid them in lots that are not main residences, where the by-laws forbid commercial activity. Read the règlement before you count on rental income.
• Same customer: the same customer cannot rent more than 90 consecutive days a year for a lodging to qualify as a tourist furnished rental (service-public).

For a longer furnished lease instead, see our guide to furnished and unfurnished leases.

Taxes and Reporting

• Taxe foncière: owed by whoever owns on January 1, billed in September, rates voted by local authorities (service-public). See French property taxes for US owners.
• Taxe d’habitation on a second home: still due on a second home, on a cadastral rental value and a commune rate, with a possible surcharge in some communes (service-public).
• The IFI: applies above 1,300,000 euros of net real estate, and for someone whose tax home is outside France only real estate in France counts (service-public). All the French real estate of your household counts together. See our IFI guide.
• US reporting: the IRS says foreign real estate you own directly is not a specified foreign financial asset reported on Form 8938, but an interest in an entity that owns it is, above the threshold (page read on October 31, 2026). That is the point to check before buying through a company: our SCI guide.
• Staying there: France-Visas states that any stay in France exceeding 90 days needs a long-stay visa obtained in advance and that your nationality does not exempt you (page read on October 31, 2026). Read how long Americans can stay in France without a visa.

Checklist Before You Make an Offer in Paris

1. Compare the asking price per square meter with the arrondissement median above, and ask what explains the gap.
2. Check that the compromis states the Carrez area, and read the diagnostics.
3. Ask for the last three years of general assembly minutes, the last call for charges and the multi-year works plan.
4. Read the règlement de copropriété on short-term rental and on commercial use.
5. Ask the notaire for a written estimate of all costs at the Paris rate.
6. Put a condition suspensive in the compromis for the mortgage if you need one.
7. Decide what you are buying it for: living there, holding it, or renting it, and check the Paris rules for that use.

When to Get Help

The notaire draws up the deed, and you can ask them before you sign what the building’s papers show. A French tax adviser is the person for the IFI and the local taxes, and a US cross-border tax adviser for the reporting if a company is involved.

FAQ

How much does an apartment cost in Paris?

In 2025 the median apartment sold for 9,712 euros per square meter, with a median size of 42 square meters and a median price of 395,817 euros, across 29,137 sales. By arrondissement the median ranged from 8,043 euros per square meter in the 19th to 14,039 in the 6th.

Can an American buy an apartment in Paris?

Yes. A notary’s guide for foreign buyers states that French law does not restrict foreign ownership (page read on October 31, 2026). Owning does not give you the right to live in France, which needs a visa beyond 90 days.

What are the extra costs when you buy in Paris?

About 7.5 percent of the price at the 5 percent départemental rate (by our calculation above), about 29,990 euros on 400,000 euros, plus the notaire’s out-of-pocket expenses.

What is the Carrez law?

Article 46 of the law of July 10, 1965: a sale of a copropriété lot must state the private area, and the buyer can claim a proportional price reduction if the real area is more than one twentieth smaller, within one year of the deed.

Can I rent my Paris apartment on Airbnb?

Up to 90 days a year if it is your main residence. A second home needs a change-of-use authorization with compensation and a registration number first, and the copropriété’s rules can forbid it.

Conclusion

A Paris apartment is a lot in a building: the price per square meter depends on the arrondissement (from about 8,000 to 14,000 euros in 2025), the area you pay for is guaranteed by the Carrez rule for one year after the deed, and the building’s minutes, charges and règlement tell you what the lot will really cost to own. Budget about 7.5 percent of the price in regulated costs, check the rules before you count on tourist rental, and keep your visa in mind, because owning does not let you stay. When you are ready to compare real listings, the homes for sale page shows what agencies offer.