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Well, he's been portrayed as a man who would hardly spend a penny.
Houses :
When he was younger, he bought a castle (that is he and his wife, whose folks were rich). The castle was a bargain, as its owner had tried in vain to raise money from the government agencies to restore its beauty. But the file never got any avail, so he sold it. Chirac bought it, asked for a governmental grant to start construction on the damaged wings... and was promptly rewarded with that help.
That must have been in the late 1960s.
Now, the house by the Seine.
When his presidency ended, he had to find a new home.
He apparently had none, the castle being out of question (they still own it I believe, as they tried to prevent the building of a camp for juvenile delinquents in its vicinities; and his fellows on the right wing are in favor of the construction of jails and the sort; but not in his backyard).
Before being president, he had been the mayor of Paris, and had been lodged by the town til he became president (from the mid-70s to 1995).
When president, he lived at the Elysée Palace, in front of the congress (1995-2007).
So when all of this was over, a rich friend of his, who had a spare apartment by the Seine tossed him the keys so he could remain in Paris.
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