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The examination of societal transformations by focusing on national birth origins often creates trouble and anxiety in France and even when this unease is removed, the difficulty remains to get relevant data. This paper is based on the bien database, from the Parisian Notary Public Board. It provides a socio-geographical analysis of housing transactions by non-French purchasers in the Northern part of the Parisian metropole ( Île-de-France). Is it possible to discern specific geographical distributions linked with foreign origins? Quantitative methods are used to identify social and spatial changes at different levels inside the area. Residential mobility is however the result of complex trends and to explain these qualitative approaches are required. This raises the question of the relevance of the concept of ethnoburb (Li Wei) within a French metropolitan context.