La Côtière, an attractive area at the gateway to Lyon

In the south-western part of the département, La Côtière stretches over a hillside about 40 kilometres long, from La Croix-Rousse to Meximieux, reached by two means of communication : the so-called “ route de Genève” and the railway line linking the Swiss capital to that of département 69.

Belonging to the urban community of Lyon, La Côtière with 66,850 inhabitants has towns such as Miribel and Montluel. The city of Lyon lies to the west, the plateau of La Dombes to the north, and the plain of L’Ain to the east, while the Rhône flows by to the south. Line 35 of the TER Rhône-Alpes connects Miribel, Beynost, Montluel and Meximieux-Pérouges.

“A 10-minute train ride takes you to the Part-Dieu station, and the Saint-Exupéry airport is a 20-minute drive away,” say Yohan and Mickaël Menière of Guy Hoquet Miribel. “La Côtière has all the infrastructures required for everyday life, shops, amenities and schools up to secondary level. The lake brings a lot of visitors.” The address is of interest to people in the upper socio-professional bracket, wanting a pleasant setting for their children. Most of them pay from 300,000 to 450,000 € for their homes ; a renovated farmhouse of 170 m2, for example, in a garden of 800 m2 with a pool in a quiet residential area. Out of every ten sales, five concern houses, one a building plot and four, apartments. A 2-bedroom apartment in a 1970’s residence in a leafy setting costs about 150,000 €. The same surface area in a recent, high-quality residence will be priced around 210,000 €. As for building land, a rare commodity in high demand, it costs 300 €/m2. The market is currently some­what stretched. Bargaining is tough and stocks of available properties relatively limited. While transactions do end up by going through, it is sometimes hard to strike a balance between buyers’ expectations and seller’s claims.

“Property prices naturally fall the further one gets from the prefecture,” comment Edith Niez and Christelle Iung of Le Tuc Immo. Ambérieu, with a full range of amenities to meet family needs, is a 24-minute train-ride from Lyon and 35 minutes at most on the 42 motorway. Le Bugey invites all those fond of outdoor activities - hiking, climbing and mountain biking -, while the plain of L’Ain boasts a lively pool of jobs. The unemployment rate is low and the value-for-money ratio interesting. A village house in good condition costs 1,800 €/m2 in Lagnieu, Ambérieu, Meximieux or Montalieu in the northern Isère, a villa 1,900-2,000 €/m2. Centres of attraction are not lacking, starting with the bank of the Rhône and the Vallée Bleue. The market for year-round residences is doing well, that for holidays homes is apparently more sluggish. Only high prices posted by sellers prevent a smooth flow of transactions, prolonging the time it takes to sell.