In the aftermath of Financial Crisis of 2008, people were expecting Financial Armageddon and we would return to our ancient ways of not using fiat currency ("not worth a continental").

So you have a huge currency risk there.

I have been investing internationally for RE companies for 10 years across Europe and the USMy take away about France is as follow:pros- relative market stability for the past 20 years- stable currency (€)cons- highest taxes to GDP in the world (capital gain taxes, transfer tax, income tax etc)- extremely complex / opaque tax system- widespread corruption around high profile transactions and construction permits - 3 months transaction close due to high regulation burden - local authorities have first look right to purchase the property you have under contract.

Another factor to consider is currency value.

Currency fluctuations. 

I argued that government-mandated land redistribution, transfer to the US Dollar instead of local currency for exchanges of goods and services, and economic re-liberalization (I added an extra "re" in the essay for some reason) didn't cut it to explain what happened.

What matters is the fiscal discipline to manage your currency properly.

Here's Why:The dollar is up this year vs. major currencies at the same time the Fed is tightening.The Fed, while having raised rates marginally, is just now taking things back into positive REAL interest rate territory.We all know how tight deals are now, valuations can't support much higher interest rates.Unemployment is extremely low.

It always give me the heebie jeebies when it suddenly becomes extremely popular to do something like buy crypto-currencies or flip houses.

A contract can be useless (sometimes it is in the US too :) ).Currency exchanges, inflation concerns, especially in emerging/developing nations.