# Canadian Dollar - how far does it go in France?



## silvervan1986 (Feb 11, 2013)

Hi Canadians living in France. I know this is a subjective question and there are many variables to factor in but overall may I ask how you feel about the CAD$ vs EU€ with respect to purchase power?

With 1 CAD$ ranging from ~ €0.65 <> €0.75; do some months feel tighter than others? We live in Vancouver, BC so a high cost of living (especially real estate) is normal but we wonder if living in France at the mercy of the currency exchange will be the same / worse / or better?

Any thoughts or comments on this would be appreciated. If we moved to France we likely would move to Bordeaux (close to my wife’s family) for a reference point in France. 

Thank you!


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## BackinFrance (Nov 26, 2020)

All I can tell you is that Bordeaux is a very expensive city and surrounding areas are also expensive, both in terms of property prices and cost of living generally.


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## travertine (Aug 10, 2010)

Hi. I've come from Vancouver Island (as recently as August this year). We bought a stone cottage with 0.5 ha next to a river for less than 250k euros. Try finding that on the mainland or the island in BC. However, we're in Brittany and in the country. Real estate is highly dependent on what you are selling and what you are prepared to settle for in France. As mentioned Bordeaux is expensive and has seen substantial price increases during the past couple of years. It was reported in one of the English language papers/online (The Connexion) that the median price of a non-new build was about 380,000 euros in mid 2022 and that the prices had increased 2.5% from the previous year. At least you can start searching listings on line and make some very general comparisons.

In terms of costs of living generally I think it's more expensive but you have to factor in services you can access as a resident (e.g. health care). Can you buy great wine and cheese cheaply - absolutely. But when I go to a hardware store it feels as though I hand over the same number of euros as I would dollars. There's a website called Numbeo that provides cost of living information by country and even city.

How one deals with exchange rates is variable. Are you considering moving permanently and severing financial ties with Canada? Will you retain an income in Canada (e.g. salary, rent, pension, investments etc.) and therefore have to make exchanges? Will the exchanges need to be regular and therefore subject to fluctuations or could you hold out until better rates appear - unpredictable I know.

And then there is the quality of life question. Best of luck.


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## silvervan1986 (Feb 11, 2013)

travertine said:


> Hi. I've come from Vancouver Island (as recently as August this year). We bought a stone cottage with 0.5 ha next to a river for less than 250k euros. Try finding that on the mainland or the island in BC. However, we're in Brittany and in the country. Real estate is highly dependent on what you are selling and what you are prepared to settle for in France. As mentioned Bordeaux is expensive and has seen substantial price increases during the past couple of years. It was reported in one of the English language papers/online (The Connexion) that the median price of a non-new build was about 380,000 euros in mid 2022 and that the prices had increased 2.5% from the previous year. At least you can start searching listings on line and make some very general comparisons.
> 
> In terms of costs of living generally I think it's more expensive but you have to factor in services you can access as a resident (e.g. health care). Can you buy great wine and cheese cheaply - absolutely. But when I go to a hardware store it feels as though I hand over the same number of euros as I would dollars. There's a website called Numbeo that provides cost of living information by country and even city.
> 
> ...


Thank you Travertine for your reply. Your example of the cost of housing comparing what you purchased in Brittany to Van Island or the Lower Mainland is so true. We are currently city dwellers right in Vancouver (Kits) where a 100sq meter apartment ranges $1.1 < $1.4 CAD. 

My wife is originally from France (Paris & the SouthWest) but we’ve lived in Van for 25 years. We are looking 5 years out and hope to make the move permanently (sell apartment) however we will be dependent on monthly pension / RRSP / TFSA income for retirement and subject to the fluctuations of exchange. 

It sounds to me that good guidance would be not to buy expensive real estate in France and possibly live more rural in order to absorb any of the potential currency fluctuations.

It’s interesting that you chose Brittany as my wife also mentioned that it might make more sense for us who are used to cooler / rainier WestCoast weather to acclimate to France especially with more extreme weather patterns emerging.

Thank you for the reference to Numbeo. 


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## travertine (Aug 10, 2010)

Hi. I've come from Vancouver Island (as recently as August this year). We bought a stone cottage with 0.5 ha next to a river for less than 250k euros. Try finding that on the mainland or the island in BC. However, we're in Brittany and in the country. Real estate is highly dependent on what you are selling and what you are prepared to settle for in France. As mentioned Bordeaux is expensive and has seen substantial price increases during the past couple of years. It was reported in one of the English language papers/online that the median price of a non-new build was about 380,000 euros in mid 2022 and that the prices had increased 2.5% from the previous year. At least you can start searching on line and make some comparisons.

In terms of costs of living generally I think it's more expensive but you have to factor in services you can access as a resident (e.g. health care). What taxes will you be paying? Can you buy great wine and cheese cheaply - absolutely. But when I go to a hardware store it feels as though I hand over the same number of euros as I would dollars.

There's an interesting website (Numbeo) that provides cost of living comparisons between countries and cities. Bordeaux and Vancouver are covered. There's also a variety of other indices available. For instance, the property price to income ratio is about 13 for Vancouver and 9.6 for Bordeaux. Is the data reliable? Don't know but you could see if it matches your experience at least with Vancouver. Good luck.


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## travertine (Aug 10, 2010)

Sorry for the duplicated response but my computer died part way through and it wasn't obvious that the post had been submitted. Re the south-west, we spent 12 months in the Lot just east of Bordeaux in 2020/21. We chose the area because we'd passed through the region many years before and because of it's proximity to the Dordogne where we thought we might at least be able to more easily access English language services initially. For a variety of reasons we bought in Brittany and I'm glad we did. The south west is hot and arguably getting hotter. This year there were major fires to the north and south of Bordeaux. Vancouver and where we live are basically at the same latitudes (49 cf 48 respectively) but we don't have the buses skating down the streets in the snow. It's worth considering for sure.


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## BackinFrance (Nov 26, 2020)

Prix m2 immobilier à Bordeaux en décembre 2022 (33000)


Quel est le prix du m2 à Bordeaux en décembre 2022 ? Découvrez gratuitement les prix de l'immobilier à Bordeaux pour l'achat/vente et pour la location.




immobilier.lefigaro.fr





Will give you an idea of current property costs in and arounrd Bordeaux.


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## jweihl (Jul 18, 2017)

silvervan1986 said:


> Hi Canadians living in France. I know this is a subjective question and there are many variables to factor in but overall may I ask how you feel about the CAD$ vs EU€ with respect to purchase power?
> 
> With 1 CAD$ ranging from ~ €0.65 <> €0.75; do some months feel tighter than others? We live in Vancouver, BC so a high cost of living (especially real estate) is normal but we wonder if living in France at the mercy of the currency exchange will be the same / worse / or better?
> 
> ...


I really don't think of a single point in time of an exchange rate as particularly useful. Currency values against each other are entirely relative and, to me, useless in absolute terms. What's more important is how well you think the CAD will do in the future vs the euro and if you have a fixed income how low it can go before you're really squeezed. For example, while considering my move to France, I looked back a couple of years and figured that 1 USD was historically roughly equal to .85 euro. So, I used that figure in budgeting so I could better target what areas of France seemed affordable for me. Luckily, since arrival, the USD has risen pretty substantially in value and we've been able to "save" or "earn" a couple of hundred extra euros a month over what we planned for.

It seems the CAD has been falling (rapidly) in value from it's highest value against the euro in over five years. However, it's still well above what it's historical value has been. What to make of that, I'm not sure. I guess if it was me, I'd figure that a historical value of .65 might be a good conservative figure to plan on, and that any exchange rate better than that would essentially be found money. Mental gymnastics to be sure, but that's how I think when comparing currencies.


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## LFBEUSTON (Nov 17, 2018)

There really is only one answer to your question and that is unless you can afford to live comfortably should there be a large drop in your exchange rate then you shouldn't! move. The exchange rate will fluctuate and you should factor a bad case scenario into your finances and see if it is possible to live at that rate.
You would be irresponsible not to. When we moved to France the exchange rate was 1.56 euro to the pound. It is now at 1.14 and has been lower, 1.10 ! That it has dropped so much isn't nice but it doesn't hurt. I have read many times of people complaining how hard it is to make ends meet because of the drop, it was naive of them to think it would remain the same, and of course it was always someone else's fault!!


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