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The billionaire Arnault family has splurged almost €200mn on a trio of Parisian properties in little over a year, providing a boost to the sluggish luxury housing market in the French capital.
The purchases include two properties in the chic seventh arrondissement: a €58mn townhouse in December 2024 and a 17th-century mansion for €97.5mn in March 2025.
The family, spearheaded by LVMH chief executive and patriarch Bernard Arnault, also acquired a €44mn triplex apartment in the affluent 16th arrondissement in May 2025. A listing for the property details a luxurious reception room with marble fireplace, boiserie wall panelling and large French doors leading to a 1,425 square-metre garden.
The transactions were among the top prices paid in Paris over the past year, according to a person familiar with the matter. A €62.5mn property purchased by music producer Pharrell Williams, who is also men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton, was also near the top of the list.
High-value transactions have helped boost a luxury housing market staging a gradual recovery from the impact of higher interest rates, which dented sales in 2023 and 2024, multiple Paris property agents told the Financial Times.
“In 2025, after two very complex years, finally we are seeing the slope of interest rates returning in the other direction . . . which is making quite a number of buyers come back to the market,” said Laurent Demeure, chief executive of luxury property agency Coldwell Banker Europa.
However, several luxury estate agents said French political uncertainty and the threat of new wealth taxes was deterring some would-be buyers.
“We have quite a number of well-off Parisian clients who have decided to put their property on sale in order to leave,” said Richard Tzipine, chief executive for France of the Barnes property agency. “I don’t know if they will really leave, but in any case it’s true that there are sales listings.”
The Arnaults’ total €199.5mn outlay, confirmed by documents seen by the Financial Times, comes as industry leader LVMH makes a tentative recovery after a significant slowdown in sales across the luxury market over the past few years.
The Arnaults remain one of the world’s wealthiest families despite a dip in the share price of the luxury group they control since a pandemic-era boom in demand for luxury goods. LVMH’s shares staged a partial recovery in 2025 as the outlook for the sector has brightened.
The purchases add to the Arnaults’ already substantial Parisian property portfolio, which includes more than 10 other town houses and apartments.
LVMH and the Arnault family declined to comment.
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