In Bordeaux, old properties exercise strong appeal

Topping the list ranking the attractiveness of towns in France, Bordeaux is a city of art, history and heritage which, over the past few years, has managed to get rid of its “Sleeping Beauty” nickname. Extensive urban rehabilitation and the completion of a TGV line placing Bordeaux within two hours from the capital are drawing the attention of families who are moving in and giving a new boost to this city of charm and traditions.

Master residences, private mansions built in the 18th and 19th centuries, and vineyard properties are dotted around Bordeaux and its surrounding countryside. Almost a century old, the Agence B. Lafaye “nurtures a passion for these outstanding properties steeped in history”. William Andrieu, the agency’s consultant for prestige transactions, works within a perimeter encompassing the Bassin d’Arcachon and the Dordogne, via the centre of Bordeaux. He advises “Parisian buyers or French ex-pats looking for properties likely to become their main homes when they return to France or retire”. He is currently proposing, for example, 12 km from Bordeaux, a late 19th-C. manor in an enclosed park of almost 7.5 acres with a pool, comprising two lounges, a library and five bedrooms, priced at 1,072,000 €. Or a very lovely private mansion with a lounge, dining-room, and eight bedrooms, in an enclosed garden of 620 m2 in Barrière de Pessac, on offer at 1,039,000 €. Typical of the region, vineyard estates can also be found in his portfolio. They consist of master residences or châteaux surrounded by several acres of vines. According to William Andrieu : “These properties are of interest either to company directors wanting to keep themselves busy when they retire with a small wine-producing activity, or professionals in the industry looking to extend their activity”. Following an excellent 2015 followed by a good month of January, our consultant says he is confident about the future of the property market in and around Bordeaux.

”The town’s economic buoyancy, local schools and colleges of very high quality, a comfortable social climate, wide-ranging rehabilitation projects now bearing fruit…” according to Pascal Boulonne, such are the assets offered by the market in Bordeaux. Co-manager of La Bordelaise de l’Immobilier, he describes it as a neighbourhood agency specializing in intra-muros properties, and even more precisely, as “more Left Bank than Right”. His clients, from Bordeaux, the Gironde or Paris, “are above all acquiring a setting in which to live”, as the city benefits from a very fine reputation. They are looking for old apartments with “parquet floors, moulded ceilings, fireplaces”, situated if possible in the classy neighbourhoods in the hyper-centre. Pascal Boulonne recently sold two properties, for instance, on Rue Huguerie : a lovely spacious aparmtent of 76 m2 with 2+ main rooms, on the first floor of a well-maintained building, priced at 399,000 €, and a 1-bedroomed apartment of 54 m2 which had benefited from contemporary renovation, priced at 295,000 €. He explains that he receives “lots of enquiries from buyers who have already completed their financing files, though there are very few properties on offer”. He has noticed, however, that more working-class, multi-cultural neighbourhoods such as Saint Michel, Sainte Croix and Les Capucins, now draw the interest of Parisian buyers. By way of example, he mentions a 3-bedroomed apartment of 97 m2, in need of a revamp but offering a very lovely view from its fourth floor (with no lift), that he just sold for 284,000 € in the Capucins neighbourhood, and a fine private mansion between Sainte Croix and Sacré Cœur, which found a taker at 1,248,000 €.

“Thanks to its remarkable urban and architectural consistency, Bordeaux, Port de la Lune, has been distinguished by UNESCO,” says Aymeric Sabatié-Garat, associate director of the Barnes Bordeaux agency. Specializing in properties in the city centre and around the Parc Bordelais, he points to the quality of the properties here and the very go-ahead urban renovation policy from which they have benefited over the past 15 years. Many purchasers - both investors and locals, Parisians and foreigners, in search of year-round homes - are very keen to acquire apartments in, or near Bordeaux’s Golden Triangle. In their eyes, the charm of old buildings, the quality of their locations, the closeness of public transport, schools, shops and parks, all make them sound investments. Offered for sale at 1,020,000 €, a handsome split-level apartment of 165 m2, with a lift, in immediate proximity to the Triangle, meets their requirements by combining magnificent interior volumes in contemporary style with the intemporal beauty of an original façade. According to Aymeric Sabatié-Garat : “In the sector for properties of quality, average prices are around 4,500 € per sqm. The highest in the Triangle, from 7,000 to 9,000 € per sqm, are on the Quai des Chartrons”. Near the Parc Bordelais, he has a pretty stone house of 280 m2 for sale, with a garden of 625 m2, offering high-end contemporary appointments and priced at 1,660,000 €. “In the case of prestige properties, the rarest are not advertised : they find new owners thanks to our network made up of over 45 agencies in France and abroad.”

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