Holiday home that won't break the bank

FrenchProperty An elegant 557sq m former bank building in the Auvergne costs the same as a one-bed apartment in Dublin, writes Orna Mulcahy, Property Editor

Bargain hunters looking for a place in France could have a holiday home and a respectable income from this former bank building in Thiers in the Auvergne.

The elegant 19th century building, which has over 555sq m (6,000sq ft) of space, is on the market at €280,000 - less than the price of a one-bedroom apartment in Dublin's city centre. It's got most of its original features - such as parquet floor, marble fireplaces, elaborate light fittings, and a fine timber staircase running from ground floor to grenier - intact.

On sale through Birmingham-based agency Proprietés Roussillon, the 19th century building is in central Thiers, a fairly workaday town famous for manufacturing knives, including the Sabatier range. The building is in the heart of the town, facing the main church and close to cafés and shops and the town's medieval quarter.

It has been partially refurbished with the banking hall converted into offices that are currently rented out at around €1,000 a month. The three upper floors provide three large apartments - one of them with five bedrooms - while there is also a large annex that could be converted. When fully refurbished, the agent suggests it could attract annual rents of over €23,000.

Thiers, a town of about 10,000 in central France, is 30 minutes from Clermont-Ferrand, with historic Vichy about the same distance. The nearest airport is St Etienne, to which Ryanair flies, an hour's drive away, while Lyons is about 90 minutes by car. This probably explains the reasonable asking price, according to Iain Cusack of Proprietés Roussillon.

"Auvergne is a cheap region of France - people drive through it to get to the south and English buyers follow other English buyers to the Dordogne and the Languedoc. There are no cheap airports on the doorstep, which also keeps prices down."