Villeneuve-sur-Lot Property Insight

Villeneuve-sur-Lot is the second town of the Lot-et-Garonne department. It is a bastide town on the Lot River, located at an equal distance of the big cities of Bordeaux and Toulouse. With almost 25,000 inhabitants, the town offers all the facilities you need.

Overview

Villeneuve-sur-Lot is a town with a real history. The first activity in this area goes back to the Roman era. At the junction of two major roads, it was a strategic place. But it was only in the 13th century that a bastide was built, a fortified town typical of the Aquitaine region. The originality of the Villeneuve-sur-Lot bastide is to be built along the Lot river. This has made Villeneuve-sur-Lot a strategic place during the wars, as it was the case during the Hundred year war or during the Religions war.

As you can guess, the Lot river has been crucial for the economy of the town for a long time. The raw materials would be transported by boat from the neighbouring regions before leaving for the nearest cities as Bordeaux. Villeneuve-sur-Lot was also renowned in France for its trade of plums. Nowadays, the main company present in this town is Gifi, a distribution group which has around 300 shops in France.

Villeneuve-sur-Lot Immobilier & Property Market Trends

In spite of an increasing demand, the Lot-et-Garonne department stays affordable and is still set under the national average in terms of prices. Anyway, the property market remains stable.

Generally speaking, the price for an apartment in the department is around €1,200/ sq m. If you want to buy a house in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, notice that you will have to allow around €100,000 as it is the average purchase money for houses in this town.

For your information, 77% of the properties in Villeneuve-sur-Lot are houses (a majority of 3-bedroom houses) and 88% of the whole properties are main accommodation. Less than 3% are (or is?) second houses.

To get updated info about housing prices in the Dordogne, please browse our French Property Market Reports published in the News Section every month.

4 Reasons to Buy a Property in Villeneuve-sur-Lot

Villeneuve-sur-Lot has many treasures to offer to those who want to experience the Aquitaine way of living. With 22,000 inhabitants, Villeneuve-sur-Lot has all the necessary structures you can expect from a town and also offers a grandiose setting, in terms of architecture with the bastide and nature with the Lot river.

• Close to the Lot river: a real asset for those who like to “be on the move”! You can either take advantage of the water sport centre, and rent canoes, kayaks and boats, or simply go fishing.

• Landscapes: The beautiful surroundings are waiting for you, as they offer many possibilities to discover the region while hiking or horse-riding for instance.

• Sports: If you like working out, the town is well-provided. There are swimming pools, stadiums, tennis clubs and a golf course.

• Identification: Living and being part of a town which has a lot to tell about itself, only in wandering in the medieval streets of the bastide is marvellous.

Property Styles and Architecture in Villeneuve-sur-Lot

There are wonderful medieval streets with half-timbered houses in corbelled construction. About the raw materials, the department gave priority to wooden framework and pebbles extracted from the Lot, but it happened that terra cotta was used as well.

• Bastides houses: the most common property type. Medieval heritages, these character houses are mainly stone houses or half-timbered houses. The architecture depends of the parcel allocated, but usually these houses are usually semi-detached and mainly developed in length. The architecture of corner houses, the arrangement of the rooms and the size differ a lot from one to another.

• Manors: surrounding the bastide site, but still in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, you can find several beautiful manors. Manors can be huge with great pieces of land or even less imposing, but what is certain is that these properties have cachet and are full of charm.

• Castles: Some castles providing acres of land can also be seen in the periphery of Villeneuve-sur-Lot. Built with the stones and pebbles of the region, the size and the number of rooms vary a lot. Thus, you can find castles for sale with from 10 to 20 rooms and even more.

Click here for more info about the Architecture of Aquitaine.