It would appear that from conversations I have had in the Carcassonne area that the lease back deal is not so rosy at the moment. There appears to be a difficulty with rental returns and the sheer number of developments. We purchased our house south of Carcassonne in a small town, but outright and not leaseback. We have never looked back. We looked at a small development of 14 houses in 2007 that was to finish end of 2008. Just last weekend we passed the sites and although all the road and services are now in place, nothing has started. My advice to prospective buyers, is to check out local builders and inspect what they are building now. Thats what we did and it paid off, we could see how close the building was to completion and were assured it was what we wanted and at the price we could afford.
Dave