The report, from the government tax office, notes that the taxe foncière increased by an average of 10.8% last year.

Rates bills for apartments grew by an average of 12.5%, whilst those for houses by an average of 9.6%.

That meant that the average rates bill for

a house was €1,019, whilst for an apartment it was €811. These figures exclude the taxe d'habitation, which is now only payable on second homes.

Nevertheless, there are large variations across the country, and of course by type, size, and condition of property.

The graphic below shows the average m2 charge by department. The tax will vary between towns and villages in a department.

Although not entirely evident from the graphic, the report states that the highest rates are in the Ile-de-France (Val d’Oise, Essonne, Yvelines and

Val-de-Marne), where average annual bills are in excess of €1,200.

Conversely, in the east of the country average bills are less than €7m2.

In the departments of Indre, Vendée,

Creuse and Haute-Saône, the average annual bill is €630.

Most of the increase last year was due to the annual revision of rateable values of properties, which increases each year in line with inflation. Last year the increase was 7.1%.

In addition, local councils adjust (or not) the multiplier (taux d'imposition) that is applied to those local rateable values. As can be seen from the graphic below, most councils made only a small change in the rate, although there were also some specular increases, notably in Paris where the rate went up by over 50%.

In the Dordogne, local councils introduced an incentive based waste disposal charge which replaced the standard charge, resulting in an apparent reduction in the square metre charge. However, excluding the change to complementary taxes, the tax increased by 10.1%.