A Parisian pied-à-terre for a couple from northern France: 2-room apartment found in 3 weeks

A couple living in Dunkirk purchased a 38 sqm 2-room apartment in the 9th arrondissement of Paris in 3 weeks of searching. Catherine Ziegler, property hunter at Home Select, identified the property through the off-market network and negotiated the price from 335,000 euros down to 317,000 euros, a saving of 5.4%.

Mission summary

• Property hunter: Catherine Ziegler
• Area: Paris 9th, Trudaine / Rochechouart neighbourhood
• Property type: 2-room apartment, 38 sqm, 3rd floor without elevator
• Initial budget: 330,000 euros
• Listed price: 335,000 euros
• Negotiated price: 317,000 euros (minus 5.4%)
• Search duration: 3 weeks
• Buyer profile: Couple in their fifties, primary residence in Dunkirk

Why did a couple from Dunkirk want a pied-a-terre in Paris?

For their regular stays in the capital, where their children were studying, and to prepare a base for retirement. After six months searching the portals alone, the good listings always sold before they could arrange a trip.

This couple of senior executives had lived in Dunkirk for twenty years: cultural weekends, family gatherings and, in time, a Parisian anchor. Their main constraint was distance, since round trips between Dunkirk and Paris to view flats did not fit their working lives.

How do you search for a Paris flat when you cannot come and view it?

With a remote purchase protocol: every pre-selected property gets a filmed viewing and a written technical report, sent within two hours. In three weeks, Catherine Ziegler viewed nine flats and submitted four complete files.

The brief was tight: a 2-room flat of 35 to 45 sqm, in the 9th or 10th arrondissement, lively neighbourhoods well served by the metro and the TGV at Gare du Nord, with character, parquet and mouldings, and as little overlooking as possible. Each report covered the condition of the flat, the building, the charges, the DPE and the noise environment, so the couple could approve or reject from a distance.

What do you get for 317,000 euros in the Trudaine area of the 9th?

A 38 sqm 2-room flat on the third floor of an 1890 building with no lift, at 8,342 euros per sqm: Hungarian herringbone parquet, mouldings, a ceiling height of 2.90 metres, DPE rated D. The flat never appeared on a portal.

It has a 12 sqm bedroom over the courtyard, an 18 sqm living room with a period fireplace and two street-facing windows, an open fitted kitchen, and a bathroom renovated in 2021. The owner, an expatriate, had listed it quietly to avoid a stream of viewings. Catherine found it through a partner agency in the 9th she works with regularly.

How did the lack of a lift save 18,000 euros in the 9th?

By shrinking the pool of possible buyers, and with it the competition. Combined with the D energy rating, it brought the price from 335,000 euros down to 317,000 euros, a 5.4% negotiation.

The asking price of 335,000 euros worked out at 8,816 euros per sqm, already below the median for the 9th arrondissement, 11,000 euros per sqm in the April 2026 DVF data, a gap the missing lift largely explains. Two points took it further: the lack of a lift on the third floor, which puts off a share of buyers and eases competitive pressure, and the D rating, pointing to future insulation work, estimated at 8,000 to 12,000 euros for the windows and ceiling under the roof.

Catherine offered 310,000 euros, backed by DVF comparables. After an exchange with the owner through their agent, the parties settled at 317,000 euros, or 8,342 euros per sqm. The couple came to Paris for a single day: confirmation viewing in the morning, preliminary contract at the notaire’s office in the afternoon.

What can be learned from an off-market pied-a-terre bought in 3 weeks in the 9th?

That a flat which never gets published is found through the local network, not the portals, and that a physical drawback such as a missing lift becomes a price lever. Here: 3 weeks of searching, 18,000 euros negotiated and a single trip to Paris.

Remote buying works when the property hunter is the client’s eyes and ears. A third of our mandates come from buyers living outside the Île-de-France region or abroad. Filmed viewings and technical reports let them decide quickly without needless travel. It is one of the real advantages of a property hunter in Paris.

The 9th arrondissement is an excellent choice for a pied-à-terre. Near two TGV stations, the Gare du Nord and the Gare Saint-Lazare, lively without being touristy, and rich in good period stock, the 9th arrondissement strikes a rare balance of charm, convenience and appreciation potential.

A flat with no lift is a negotiating opportunity. On the third floor, the lack of a lift deters about 30% of buyers, easing competition and opening a negotiating margin that a lift-served flat does not. For an active couple using the place a few days a month, it is a non-issue.

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