Montélimar Property Insight

Overview

Montelimar is a town of 35,000 inhabitants located in the Drome department and in the Rhone-Alpes region. Benefitting from a very preserved environment, the French commune is place where life is enjoyed fully, through nature, food, traditions, outstanding architecture, a great climate and relaxed art de vivre. Indeed, Montelimar will rejoice every nature, sport or culture lover with many museums. The town has several high-standard sport facilities too.

Located only 1h30 from several strategic towns and cities of the south east, Montélimar benefits from good economic influences. Many new companies have settled in the area in recent years, which means that jobs are numerous in diverse fields. Along with this dynamism, the town develops a lot its centre to make it even more pleasant, welcoming and sustainable.

When it comes to property, Montelimar offers well-priced houses in a green, lush environment. The climate makes it also very pleasant to live in this area of France and accessing it is easy thanks to modern and sufficient transport links. An excellent place for buy-to-let investments as well.

Montelimar Immobilier & Property Market Trends

Properties in Montelimar in 2009 are inexpensive, with €1,892 /sq m on average. Let’s recall that the national average is €3,197 /sq m and that the regional one is €1,858 /sq m. Montelimar can be considered as a place where bargains can be found, given its very strong assets. This is a typical Provence town, where property is easy to sell or to rent.

Apartments in Montelimar can be bought for €1,500 on average and are once again a very good investment, in a provencal environment at only 1h30 from the Alps or Marseille. Return on investment in the area is fast and easy. A very welcoming town for gite businesses as well, offering large stone properties at very good prices in lush, very preserved settings.

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

5 Reasons to Buy a Property in Montelimar

• Culture, art and historical heritage: the commune is honeycombed with buildings, historical venues and monuments. The most renowned are the sweets and nougat palace, the Adhémar castle, ancient chapels and gates, and diverse museums which cannot be overlooked. These places give a very traditional aspect to the town centre, reinforced by the many houses with coloured walls. A relaxed, friendly atmosphere that makes you feel at home.

• People and activities: the locals in Montélimar are welcoming, and many activities are organized all year round which will allow you to mix up with them. The most renowned are the carnaval (in March), the “Republican Banquet”, gathering a mere 3,000 inhabitants, literature lovers’ gatherings, and so on. This is one of the most liked aspects of the town which may explain why holidaymakers choose the area massively.

• Good food: Drôme is a place of delights, one of the most obvious after the architecture and climate being the local gastronomy. Montélimar has its own delicacies called nougat de Montélimar. An unmissable local produce. This confectionery appeared in the late 17th century, its recipe was gradually improved and amended to get the current one, with sugar, eggs, honey, almonds, pistachios, vanilla etc. This has made the fame of the town in France and stills attracts visitors today, excellent for tourism-related activities such as guest houses or gites.

• Climate and weather: the local climate is Mediterranean. The town benefits from 2,498 hours of sun per year and snow is present 9 days per year. The area undergoes the influence of a dry wind coming from the north and a mild, humid wind coming from the south and the Mediterranean sea.

• Mountains and the sea: being 1h30 from the Alps and the Mediterranean, living in Montélimar provides you with many holiday opportunities, within a stone’s throw. This is part of the explanation why the return on investment is swift in the department and why gite businesses are welcome here more than elsewhere. Indeed, being able to enjoy both the Provence, the Mediterranean and the Alps is a great asset!

Property Styles and Architecture in Montelimar

If many farmhouses and sometimes Mas can be found scattered in the Dromois countryside, Montelimar features mainly town houses with simple layout and dimensions.

• Provence houses: in Montélimar, provence-syle properties can be found mainly in the town centre. With their classic simple layout, they are most often semi-detached or attached. They boast colours of the surrounding landscapes such as yellow, blue, ochre on their walls. Some of them have frames around windows, sometimes making use of tuf or exposed stones (sparingly). The town of Montélimar gives grants to owners of such houses to help them to restore. Grant can reach several thousand euros.

• Stone properties: once again, these properties are mainly town houses. They feature a simple layout and are generally inexpensive. They make ideal second homes as the maintenance is simple. With a gently sloping roof covered with tiles (sometimes provencal ones), they have a quite friendly and welcoming aspect. They generally comprise several storeys as it is difficult to build in width in town centres.

Click here for more info about the Architecture in Rhone Alpes.