French News Archive

Property Market

Rural House Prices in France

Tuesday 11 July 2017

The French rural land agency SAFER have produced a useful analysis of the price of country property in France and the most popular areas for international buyers.

Each year SAFER (Société d'Aménagement Foncier et d'Etablissement Rural) offer a review of the market for rural properties and agricultural land.

They are able to do so by virtue of their right of pre-emption on most rural properties, granting them a right to formal notification by notaires of relevant sale contracts. They are also themselves active in the market.

Their assessment in the past two years has been substantially aided by changes in the law introduced in 2014, which requires notaires to notify to them a far higher number of properties subject to sale, providing a more accurate picture of the market.

Overall, SAFER state that the national average price of a 'maison de campagne' in 2016 was €160,400, a figure that is broadly in line with 2015, but substantially down on the peak of 2007, when the average price was €220,000. However, as the number of transactions recorded by SAFER at this time was much smaller it is not an entirely reliable comparison.

The definition of 'maison de campagne' used in the study is 'une partie ou l’ensemble d’un ancien corps de ferme ou un bâtiment vendu avec un terrain agricole de moins de 5 ha.'

Of potential interest to many international owners and buyers is the analysis they provide of rural house prices for each department of France. SAFER are the only body to provide such information; the property market reports from the notaires and French estate agents are drawn mainly from transactions in urban areas, an entirely different market to that for country properties.

The study shows that there are no less than 12 departments with average prices less than €100,000. The department with the least expensive average rural house prices is Creuse, in the region of Nouvelle Aquitaine, with an average sale price of €63,500.

The full list of under €100K departments is as follows:

  • Creuse €63,200
  • Indre €69,100
  • Haute-Marne €78,900
  • Nièvre €80,500
  • Cher €86,000
  • Allier €87,200
  • Haute-Vienne €91,300
  • Cantal €92,600
  • Haute-Vienne €91,300
  • Corrèze €93,300
  • Puy-de-Dôme €98,000
  • Ardennes €99,100

Nevertheless, the table below also shows that cheap property can be found right across the country, with minimum prices starting from as low as €15,000 (Isère and Indre). Such sales are likely to be far and few between, and just what you get for your money for €15K is going to differ markedly from one department to the next, but it is significant that the starting price of property is modest throughout most of France.

Rural House Prices 2016*
Region/Dept
Average Price
Minimum Price
Maximum Price
AUVERGNE-RHONE-ALPES
Ain €171,500
€63,000
€338,000
Allier €87,200
€24,000
€183,000
Ardèche €154,200
€40,000
€315,000
Cantal €92,600
€27,000
€200,000
Drôme €226,000
€90,000
€421,000
Isère €205,800
€15,000
€150,000
Haute-Loire €112,200
€32,000
€212,000
Loire €144,700
€51,000
€265,000
Puy-de-Dôme€98,000
€21,000
€225,000
Rhône €246,500
€85,000
€505,700
Haute-Savoie €299,500
€90,000
€625,000
Savoie€184,200€50,000
€398,000
BRITTANY
Côte d'Amour€109,300
€35,000
€230,000
Finistère€125,500
€45,000
€255,000
IIe-et-Vilaine €136,000
€38,000
€270,000
Morbihan
€131,800
€31,000
€300,000
BOURGOGNE FRANCHE-COMTE
Belfort
€149,200
€50,000
€277,000
Côte-d'Or€127,700
€30,000
€130,000
Doubs
€148,000
€31,000
€320,000
Haute-Saône€107,500
€23,000
€249,000
Jura
€125,900
€43,000
€236,600
Nièvre€80,500
€25,000
€172,000
Saône-et-Loire€110,500
€40,000
€216,000
Yonne
€121,000
€44,000
€230,000
CENTRE-VAL DE LOIRE
Cher
€86,000
€28,000
€180,000
Eure-et-Loir
€152,200
€55,000
€315,000
Indre
€69,100
€15,000
€150,000
Indre-et-Loire
€137,100
€35,000
€290,000
Loir-et-Cher
€118,700
€35,000
€229,000
Loiret
€142,400
€56,000
€266,000
GRAND EST
Ardennes
€99,100
€23,000
€195,000
Aube
€124,300
€27,000
€300,000
Haute-Marne
€78,900
€22,000
€175,000
Marne
€150,200
€51,900
€300,000
Meurthe-et-Moselle
€120,100
€24,600
€260,000
Meuse
€102,200
€26,700
€225,000
Moselle
€136,400
€25,000
€300,000
Bas-Rhin
€190,700
€80,000
€390,000
Haut-Rhin
€178,500
€65,000
€370,000
Vosges
€110,100
€36,000
€212,200
HAUTS DE FRANCE
Aisne €116,200
€29,500
€225,000
Nord €185,100
€65,000
€375,000
Oise €205,500
€85,200
€400,000
Pas-de-Calais€153,400
€56,000
€300,000
Somme €142,700
€50,000
€285,000
ILE-DE-FRANCE*
Paris-
-
-
Seine-Saint-Denis-
-
-
Haute-de-Seine-
-
-
Val-et-Marne €263,600
€140,200
€725,000
Val d'Oise €280,600
€130,000
€525,000
Yvelines€365,000
€144,000
€732,000
Essonne €254,800
€90,000
€440,000
Seine-et-Marne€212,700
€84,000
€400,000
NOUVELLE-AQUITAINE
Charente €104,500
€26,000
€225,000
Charente-Maritime €136,200
€41,500
€280,000
Corrèze €93,300
€30,000
€187,000
Creuse €63,200
€17,500
€136,500
Deux-Sèvres €103,700
€30,000
€212,000
Dordogne €143,300
€50,000
€300,000
Gironde €176,800
€68,000
€360,000
Landes €165,800
€70,000
€300,000
Lot-et-Garonne €151,100
€62,500
€293,000
Pyrénées-Atlantiques€209,900
€80,000
€467,000
Haute-Vienne €91,300
€24,000
€190,000
Vienne
€103,700
€28,000
€211,000
OCCITANIE
Ariège €111,500
€32,900
€219,900
Aude €115,300
€22,000
€260,000
Aveyron €110,200
€30,000
€230,000
Gard €201,200
€47,500
€420,500
Gers €155,200
€60,000
€302,500
Haute-Garonne €198,000
€76,700
€367,000
Hautes-Pyrénées €128,600
€50,000
€240,000
Hérault €186,300
€38,000
€440,000
Lot€150,000
€53,000
€295,000
Lozère €119,300
€31,000
€260,000
Pyrénées-Orientales€186,800
€40,000
€407,000
Tarn €159,700
€50,000
€325,000
Tarn-et-Garonne €156,400
€60,000
€275,000
NORMANDY
Calvados
€159,800
€50,000
€352,000
Manche
€110,700
€35,700
€210,000
Orne
€110,600
€35,000
€212,000
Eure
€159,400
€75,000
€290,000
Seine-Maritime
€166,700
€70,000
€286,500
PAYS DE LA LOIRE
Loire-Atlantique
€159,500
€60,000
€305,000
Maine-et-Loire
€137,800
€50,000
€260,000
Mayenne
€104,700
€26,000
€200,000
Sarthe
€116,900
€40,700
€210,000
Vendée€124,100
€45,000
€229,000
PROVENCE-ALPES-COTE D'AZUR
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
€183,600
€35,000
€380,000
Alpes-Maritimes€320,800
€55,000
€800,000
Bouches-du-Rhône
€405,800
€143,000
€830,000
Hautes-Alpes
€167,200
€40,000
€350,000
Var€335,900
€111,500
€693,000
Vaucluse
€319,500
€127,000
€700,000

* Excludes lowest priced 10% and highest priced 10% of sales.

This same information is presented cartographically below.

As can be seen, the least expensive areas are Central and North East France, the Pyrénées and Brittany, as well as parts of some other regions. Highest prices are around the Parisian Basin, Alsace, Haute-Savoie, the Mediterranean coast, the Atlantic coast, and the cities of Lyon, Toulouse and Bordeaux.


International Buyers

According to SAFER, the percentage of non-resident international buyers in 2016 was 5.3% of total rural house sales, down from 7.3% in 2015. The average for the period 2009-2013 was 6.5%.

The main reason for the fall in the number of international buyers last year was mainly due to fewer buyers from the United Kingdom, the result of Brexit and the fall in the value of Sterling.

Neverthless, British buyers accounted for 47% of all international buyers (53% in 2015). They are followed by the Belgians and Dutch.

The graphic below shows the percentage of rural house sales to international buyers in 2016 by department, from which it can be seen that in some areas of France, the percentage of international buyers of rural property is in excess of 15%.

As can be seen, international buyers are continuing to buy in those places where they have done so in the past, with most sales in the Central West of the country and also parts of Midi-Pyrénées, Burgundy and Languedoc-Roussillon.


The table and images courtesy of Terres d’Europe-Scafr d’après Safer.


Related Reading:

Thank you for showing an interest in our News section.

Our News section is no longer being published although our catalogue of articles remains in place.

If you found our News useful, please have a look at France Insider, our subscription based News service with in-depth analysis, or our authoritative Guides to France.

If you require advice and assistance with the purchase of French property and moving to France, then take a look at the France Insider Property Clinic.