Leasebacks from ?170,000

French Sale & Leasebacks: Two French sale and leaseback developments are being offered to Irish investors this weekend, one in the Vaucluse area of Provençe, the other in Lacanau, a village about 40 minutes' from Bordeaux.

Springvale Overseas Properties is offering 13 fully furnished two and three-bedroom houses costing from €170,000 to €555,000. The scheme is in a wooded setting, with beaches, horse riding, a lake and an 18-hole golf course.

The houses have fully equipped kitchens and big gardens, according to the agent.

Springvale is selling 13 sale and leaseback houses with a guaranteed rental yield of 4.5 per cent for nine years. Owners can use their property for one week a year.

Springvale will be on sale in St Helen's Radisson Hotel in Stillorgan, Co Dublin this weekend.

Meanwhile, 73 townhouses in L'Ile sur la Sorgue, a resort and spa about 40 minutes' from Marseille, are also being launched this weekend by agent France First. Costing from €236,000 to €330,000 for one to three-bedroom townhouses, they have their own terraces and private gardens. Facilities in the resort include swimming pools and a spa.

Investors are promised a 4.75 per cent rental yield for 11 years; owners can use it at up to a 50 per cent discount. The scheme will be launched in Maryborough House Hotel in Cork this weekend, and in Jurys in Dublin next weekend.