A surge in apartment prices in Q3 of 2010 saw them up by 9.7% on the previous year, according to the Notaires De France (France's Insurance Association).

This follows on from strong increases in Q2 of 2010 which put prices up by 10.2% on the previous year, according to official government data from the National Institute for Statistic and Economic Studies (INSEE). This data makes France possibly the most stable property market Europe has.

Moving away from the center of the capital, prices in Q2 were up by 7% on the year before and the outskirts of the city saw an increase of 6.2% over Q2 2009. Throughout the whole Paris region, prices in Q2 2010 rose to 7.87% above prices of the same period in 2009.

Throughout the country figures were also up though at a slower rate. Residential figures in Q3 2010 were up by 0.6% over Q3 2009. Over the same period, detached houses in France saw rises of 1.1%.

Emerging Property's Sourcing Manager, James Harrington, commented, "the recent rise across the country has been largely contributed to low mortgage rates. The figures could be an indication that the rest of the country will follow the capital's strong growth."