How French nationals and France-based high-net-worth individuals who own property in Manhattan, Miami, Los Angeles, the Hamptons, Aspen, and across America's premium real estate markets can release the equity they have built, without their wealth being locked inside a French corporate structure that the American lending system cannot read
France produces a specific and well-documented profile of high-net-worth borrower that the conventional US mortgage system handles particularly poorly. The French high-net-worth individual, whether a founder, an executive, a professional, or a member of an established business family, frequently holds the majority of their wealth not in declared personal income but in a French holding company (société holding, SCI, or SAS), a family investment vehicle, or a combination of corporate and personal assets that reflects the French preference for structuring wealth through corporate entities rather than taking it as personal income.
The consequence for US mortgage underwriting is consistent and predictable: the declared personal income, what appears on the avis d'imposition (French tax return), is a small fraction of the French high-net-worth individual's actual economic capacity. The holding company owns the assets. The shareholder takes minimal salary. The wealth is real and substantial; the personal income is modest and unrepresentative.
French private banks and the major French commercial banks: BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole, BPCE, and their private banking affiliates, face a similar challenge when considering cross-border lending against US real estate. They understand the French corporate structure. They know the client. But they will not lend against a US property without either moving the lending relationship to a US affiliate (which creates its own complications) or requiring the French holding structure to be unwound in a way that creates French tax consequences the client rightly wants to avoid.
Global Mortgage Group assesses the property and the exit strategy. We do not require the French corporate structure to be unwound, the personal income to be inflated, or the wealth management relationship to be restructured. We lend on the asset.
This is the Unlocked in America: French High-Net-Worth Owners of US Real Estate guide — part of the Unlocked in America series by Global Mortgage Group and America Mortgages.
What French High-Net-Worth Owners Have Built in US Real Estate
Manhattan: SoHo, Tribeca, and the Upper West Side
The French high-net-worth community in Manhattan is one of the most culturally distinct of any international nationality in the city. French buyers have concentrated in SoHo and Tribeca, attracted by the neighbourhood's European street-level character, and on the Upper West Side, where the Lycée Français de New York has created a consistent anchor for French family residential investment since the school's establishment. SoHo and Tribeca loft apartments purchased by French buyers in the late 1990s and early 2000s for USD 500,000 to 900,000 are now worth USD 2.5 to 5 million.
Miami: The French Riviera's American Counterpart
French high-net-worth buyers, particularly those with yacht culture connections and Côte d'Azur lifestyle sensibilities, have found in Miami Beach and Coconut Grove an American lifestyle market that offers genuine parallels to the French Riviera at a significantly lower price point. French buyers have been consistent Miami investors since the Art Deco revival of the early 1990s.
The Hamptons and Aspen: French Lifestyle Second Homes
French high-net-worth buyers are among the most established European communities in both the Hamptons and Aspen, the Hamptons for its sailing and beach culture connection, Aspen for its obvious parallel to the French Alpine ski resorts of Courchevel, Val d'Isère, and Méribel.
Napa Valley and Wine Country
French high-net-worth buyers with wine industry connections have established a specifically significant presence in Napa Valley and Sonoma County, in some cases acquiring both residential properties and winery estates that combine lifestyle and investment logic in a way that resonates naturally with French buyers.
GMG's Equity Release Solution for French High-Net-Worth Owners
- Loan size: USD 500,000 to USD 100,000,000+
- Term: 6 to 24 months
- LTV: Up to 65–70% of independently appraised US market value
- Interest: Retained or rolled up, no monthly payment
- No US credit history or SSN required
- French corporate income through SCI, SAS, société holding, and other French holding structures, considered within asset-led assessment without requiring restructuring
- EUR income and French tax return documentation, accommodated within GMG's framework
- Security: Manhattan, Miami, Hamptons, Aspen, Los Angeles, Napa Valley, and all major US markets with French high-net-worth ownership
- Timeline: Term sheet 24–48 hours; drawdown 10–20 business days
Contact Donald Klip
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +65 9773-0273
Website: gmg.asia
America Mortgages: americamortgages.com
