There's nothing lovelier than emerging from the grot of London into the beauty of Paris on a sunny spring day. You might even decide to stay, and it wouldn't be a foolish decision, given that prime property in the smartest parts of Paris is roughly half the cost of that in equivalent areas of grimy old London.

Apartments in the most expensive streets in Paris, the “golden triangle” formed by Avenue Montaigne, the Champs-Elysées and Avenue Marceau, in the 8th arrondissement, cost a maximum of £1,500 a sq ft, according to figures from the buying agency Property Vision. In comparison, the most expensive parts of Chelsea now command £2,800 a sq ft, and one-off super-prime developments, such as One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, have reached £4,000 a sq ft.

The French property market is also a more dependable beast than its English or American cousins. The French are a nation of tenants, not property speculators, and the market tends to avoid peaks and troughs in favour of a steady upward trajectory, with a typical rise of between 60 and 70 per cent over the past five years, according to figures from the Notaires de Paris.

Priscilla Charrey, of Knight Frank's Paris office, is confident that “the high-end market in Paris is protected against the global crisis. Sub-prime doesn't concern us. Paris is a cheap capital and the most beautiful in the world - a paradox.” Half her clients are buyers from Britain, Ireland, Russia and America, who buy one or two-bedroom flats to let.

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Lionel Macaire, of the estate agents Belles Demeures de France, agrees: “The market is very good. More and more foreigners are buying every year. London is more expensive because of the power of the City - there's more competition for the best properties and therefore more pressure on prices.”

Overseas investors in Paris do have cultural obstacles to overcome. Flats on the smartest streets tend to have belonged to the same family for generations and have had no money spent on them within living memory. According to Fiona Dermody, an Irish estate agent at Knight Frank in Paris: “The French have good pieces of antique furniture, and basic good taste, but they don't ‘design' their interiors. They're very old-fashioned - for example, they can't understand why the British and Americans are so keen on open-plan kitchens. French people think it's barbaric to eat in the kitchen.”

Nigel Hindle, of Property Vision, agrees. “Until recently it was impossible to find a luxurious, furnished, ‘turn-key' apartment that you could start living in immediately. In London they're everywhere, but here it's a trend that's just starting to take off.”

The Right Bank “golden triangle” is equivalent to Mayfair in London, where prices are £2,000 a sq ft. A three-bed 2,150 sq ft flat on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, a fashionable street of designer boutiques and the President's residence, is for sale via Knight Frank (knightfrank.com) for €1.875million (£1.48million). Like all 19th-century flats in streets designed by Baron Haussmann, it has a grand front room, parquet floors and ornate cornices. Typically, it also has a prehistoric kitchen and bathroom, but if you are prepared to redecorate, you could live it up on the Paris equivalent of Bond Street.

A similarly-sized three-bed flat is for sale for €1.9 million on Avenue Mozart, near by in the 16th arrondissement. It is elegant and spacious but dilapidated and requires at least €300,000 of work, according to the agent. A larger three-bed flat, 2,580 sq ft, in an Art Deco block on Place Vauban in the 7th, is €4.2 million. This is because of its view of Les Invalides opposite, but the agent believes that the price could be negotiated to €3.75 million. Typical prices in the 16th and 7th are €750-€850 a sq ft. They are established, moneyed areas similar to Kensington and Holland Park, where a flat will cost £2,000 a sq ft.

British visitors to Paris are probably more familiar with the Left Bank districts of the 5th and 6th arrondissements, with their rabbitwarren of chic, atmospheric streets. The Times photographer, Magali Delporte, confided in me that, if she were a foreigner, this is where she would live: “It's full of writers, politicians and intellectuals.” Prices are only €750-€850 a sq ft, a bargain compared with Chelsea or South Kensington, its London equivalents, where flats are £2,000 and houses up to £2,800 a sq ft. A one-bed flat in a 17th-century building on Rue Blainville, near the Panthéon, is for sale via Knight Frank for €962,000. It's only 750 sq ft, but very atmospheric, with dark wood floors and beams. Unusually, it's been completely renovated, with a new fitted kitchen, perfect for a British buy-to-let investor in search of a chic pied-à-terre.

All properties, unless otherwise stated, are available through Property Vision (0033 4 93 92 79 35, www.propertyvision.com )

Fact File

When buying in France, watch out for the following tax traps:

Wealth tax: Non-residents with property in France worth over €780,000 (£616,700) must pay an annual tax of up to 1.8 per cent of the property's value. However, if you take out a mortgage with a French bank before you buy the house, it is deductible from wealth tax.

Inheritance tax: President Sarkozy has abolished the rule that surviving spouses pay tax of up to 40 per cent on the value of their deceased partner's estate. Take legal advice if you want to leave your estate to your spouse, not your children. This is technically illegal in France.

Capital gains tax: Non-residents must pay 16 per cent of a property's value in tax if they sell within five years. Each year after that there is a rebate, and after 15 years it is reduced to zero.

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