Cestas, Leognan, a peaceful area south of Bordeaux

About 20 kilometres south of the city of Bordeaux, Cestas and Léognan are two communes of modest size, currently taking on a more youthful air. Their quiet residential areas are drawing an increasing number of young couples with child­ren.

In Les Landes de Bordeaux, between the A63 heading for the Bassin d’Arcachon and the A62 in the direction of Toulouse, the communes of Cestas and Léognan provide housing for local working people in quiet, safe residential areas. Cestas, with almost 17,000 residents, is crossed by L’Eau Bourde. Further east, in the vineyards of Les Graves and crossed by L’Eau Blanche which rises here, the commune of Léognan has a population of around 10,000.

In 2009, Stéphanie Marsault took over the family agency, Cestas Immobilier. Opened over 20 years ago, it covers the area from the southern part of Pessac to Le Barp via Cestas, where its office is located near the church. “The town proposes several areas with houses and gardens, other localities near the town centre, and housing estates benefiting from the quietness of the surrounding pine­woods.” Peaceful homes close to large companies in the area thus comprise the main assets offered by the commune. Cestas Immobilier’s clients mainly come from large French cities (Paris, Lyon, Marseille), taking advantage of job transfers to come settle in the region. Stéphanie Marsault offers them, for example, a house built in the 1980’s, in need of renovation. Offering living space of 90 m2 with a garden of 950 m2 with oak trees, it recently sold for around 250,000€. Another house, this time in contemporary style (built in 2012), is comprised of a large lounge of 50 m2, four bedrooms, a study and two bathrooms, in a landscaped garden of 850 m2. No renovation is required for this property, up for sale at 410,000 €. As Stéphanie Marsault points out : “Just a 30-minute drive to Bordeaux (or by train from the Cestas Gazinet station), Cestas invites its residents to enjoy the countryside after a hard day’s work”.

CLT Immobilier has been based in Cestas since 2006. According to Christelle Ferreira, who took over the agency over two years ago : “People coming to live here are mostly couples in their forties with children, but also retirees, looking for a peaceful setting with lots of activities”. The town of Cestas is thus seeing a gardual renewal of its population : “Buyers from Paris, Lille or Brittany who are transferred to the area south of Bordeaux find residential areas here near schools, shops and public transport, in a very convenient location between Bordeaux and the Bassin d’Arcachon”. These new arrivals, “settling into new jobs, also benefit from local taxes that are lower than in the communes of metropolitan Bordeaux”. For Christelle Ferreira : “In this era when professional mobility has become more frequent, demand outstrips supply. Properties correctly estimated at market price thus find takers very rapidly”. The CLT Immobilier agency recently sold a 3-bedroomed house of approx. 130 m2 in Cestas Bourg with a garden of 850 m2, priced at 370,000 €, agency fees included. Another example, in Cestas Réjouit, a 5-bedroomed house of about 230 m2 in Provençal style with grounds of 1,998 m2 found a new owner at 444,000 €. In the coming months, Christelle Ferreira hopes “to find new mandates corresponding to the needs of these clients wanting to settle in a town where one feels as if one is on holiday as soon as the weather gets warmer”.

Further east, on the commune of Léognan, the ERA Les Graves Immobilier agency is managed by Laurence Lesage. In her opinion : “Léognan is above all a rural setting near a large city. In fact, whether by car or public transport, access to the capital of Aquitaine is very easy, and will be even more so as from July 2017, with the arrival of the tramway”. Just 20 minutes from the St Jean train station and the airport, Léognan also enjoys easy access to the Bassin d’Arcachon in summer. Referring to her ten most recent sales, Laurence Lesage estimates that 80 % of the buyers came from another region of France, often the Ile-de-France (region around Paris). They were mainly comprised of people transferred here for professional reasons, or young retirees wanting to be closer to their families. “The area has very few homes to rent,” adds Laurence Lesage. “Which incites new arrivals to buy, especially as mortgage rates are still very low.” This suburban town offers a full range of amenities : medical centres of quality, schools up to intermediate level, and the best market in the region. For young first-time buyers, she suggests a very light and airy house of 95 m2 with a lovely terrace. Just a 5-minute walk to the centre, it is on offer at 275,000 €. For buyers with more comfortable budgets, she can propose a house built around a swimming pool, up for sale at 540,000 €. Its living space of 170 m2 is comprised of a beautiful living-room with open-plan kitchen, five bedrooms including a master suite, in an enclosed and very private garden of 1,000 m2.