Red, White, and Sacre Bleu: Americans are buying up homes in Paris

Getting fired after a reorganization at his firm wasn't ideal, but Marty Yabrow and his wife, Angie, wanted to make the best of it, so in 2024 they booked a three-city trip to Europe. Then, one morning while Marty was filling out a planning spreadsheet with hotels and restaurants, Angie asked out of the blue, "Why don't we just move there instead?" Marty was quick to react.

"I deleted that spreadsheet, and I started a new one," he says.

Despite some initial misgivings from their financial advisor, Marty, 68, crunched the numbers and found that it was not only financially possible but also preferable to retire in France , since he and Angie, 73, would benefit from free healthcare. After selling their home in Atlanta, they moved to Paris in January 2025.

A growing number of Americans have been flocking to the French capital, seeking a better work-life balance, a slightly cheaper cost of living, or some distance from politics back home. And unlike previous generations of uber-wealthy Americans investing in pied-à-terre properties, more people are making a permanent move . In 2025, 15,388 Americans applied for a French residency permit, a 17.3% increase from the previous year.

Parisians, meanwhile, are ambivalent about welcoming the Yanks. On the downside, the new wave of Américains is driving up housing prices for locals investing in their own high-end properties. On the upside, the rush of real estate cash is creating new financial opportunities and greasing the wheels of the housing market as many French people look to downsize.

"Americans are among the biggest foreign buyers in France," says Maître Angélique Devaux, a notary in Paris.

They also tend to spend more: In Paris, one in four foreign buyers is American, and their average budget of 825,000 euros (roughly $950,000) exceeds the average value of both foreign and French purchases.

These new expats are seduced by the historic neighborhoods: Odéon and Saint-Germain-des-Prés on one side of the river, Le Marais and the Triangle d'Or on the other. They're interested in postcard Paris, says Guillaume de Blaÿ, managing partner at Barnes Bac-Varenne, a brokerage that has long served those looking for luxurious properties.

"Have you heard of 'Emily in Paris'? That's the sort of imagery I'm talking about," he says.

Like the titular Emily , American buyers are also up for an adventure. They're slowly looking further from the epicenter, venturing into neighborhoods where real (wealthy) Parisians live, such as Nouvelle Athènes and Montparnasse, close to bilingual schools and major parks. Some are even exploring the (chicer) suburbs. Regardless of where they settle, Americans are changing what is being sold and how.