Will Paris get an Olympic-sized rise in property prices?

From her Paris office in the 6th arrondissement, on the boho-chic Left Bank, Alison Ashby is trying hard to make herself heard. Outside her window there’s the constant rumble of pneumatic drills and lorries, noise replicated right across the capital as it becomes a mass of roadworks, scaffolding and temporary structures.

These works make commuting something of an obstacle course for citizens, but the clock is ticking. Paris is hosting the Summer Olympics and Paralympics this year, the biggest event organised in French history, according to organisers.

The 2024 Games should see the French capital in its prime

CHESNOT/GETTY

“The run-up has not been straightforward,” says Ashby, the co-founder and sales director of Junot Fine Properties, Knight Frank’s associates in Paris. “But these Games are confirming Paris as an international hub, a place where people want to