Saturday, November 26, 2022
The high street business transaction market in France starts to pick up speed again
Choose your locationInformation on the market
France recorded a 9.6% upswing in the sales of existing businesses in 2021, after a 10.5% drop in 2020, but this has not been enough to revert to pre-Covid levels. Such are the findings of a report published by Altares in June 2022.
28,000 transactions were recorded in all, with the average price rising and surpassing the €200,000 mark, in spite of the pandemic. The total number of transactions and the average selling price are encouraging signs, and the market therefore remains attractive.
Small rural towns and business transactions
25% of business ownership transfers occurred in rural towns with less than 3,000 inhabitants (which account for 90% of all French municipalities), and 10% of transactions were completed in one of the five largest cities in France: Paris recorded more than 1,600 transactions, Marseille 400, Lyon 300, Toulouse 210 and Nice more than 170.
Pharmacies currently attract the highest average price tag: although this fell by 9.6% in 2021, a purchaser still needs to find just over a million euros to get their hands on one. Supermarkets arrive in second place with an average price close to half a million, down by 5.6%.
Breakdown of transactions by region
Sales of existing businesses in Île-de-France and in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes together account for a third of all transactions in France, with respectively 4,500 and 4,000 ownership transfers. Next on the list are Occitania, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, each with just under 3,000 transactions.
The highest upturn can be observed in Corsica, where there were 185 transactions in 2021, a 24.2% increase on the previous year.
Consult business-for-sale adverts in France at