Le Pouliguen, a seaside town in the Loire-Atlantique region

This seaside resort on the Côte d’Amour owes its renown to its fishing and sailing harbour. Its population consists of 5,000 people year-round, though it can rise to 40,000 in the high season. Breton culture is still very lively here : some villages still spoke the dialect in the 19th century

Lying on the Loire-Atlantique shore less than 20 km from Saint-Nazaire and east of Le Croisic, Le Pouliguen, on the railway line, is next to Guérande, La Baule and Batz-sur-Mer. Its sandy beach and woods keep company with creeks and grottos. The harbour was developed to serve the salt trade. As far back as the Middle Ages, activity was in full swing on the Guérande peninsula. Its decline in the mid-19th century led to a new vocation : seaside tourism, boosted by the arrival of the railway line in 1879.

“Fewer properties are being put up for sale due to the new legislation on capital gains,” says Vanessa Piaumier of the Agence du Casino. “Unless they need to obtain cash, most holiday home-owners prefer to hang on to their properties.” Mostly from Nantes, Paris, Angers and Rennes, the buyers are looking for second residences and rarely pay over 200,000 €, the sum required for a small house with one or two bedrooms or an apartment of 50 m2 in a good location, benefiting from a garage and outdoor area. Apartments range from 2,250 to 8,000 € per sq. metre, the latter applying to seafront residences proposing top-quality appointments. Over and above 400,000 €, demand is much more hesitant than in the past. Everyone enjoys the casual family atmosphere in the little harbour and shopping centre. Not forgetting the beach.

“All segments combined, the decline in prices since 2011 is around 5 %,” notes Thomas Coquantif of Patrimoine Modernisation. “And those determined to sell must make an effort to stick to market prices. An overvalued property will not get any visits, but often draws very audacious offers. Fully aware of economic realities, buyers now have the upper hand.” Out of ten offers received by the agency in April/May, five were rejected. Two were too low, three more than coherent. The flow of activity in fact depends on whether sellers are willing or not to accept the current state of affairs. Many of Patrimoine Modernisation’s clients come from within the region or Paris and its surrounding area, wanting to spend their old age on the shores of the Loire-Atlantique and able to invest from 250,000 to 500,000 € - bringing a lovely house in good condition near the centre, with 3/4 bedrooms and a garden of 500 m2. 90 % of these sprightly seniors pay cash and appreciate the friendliness, courtesy and simplicity characteristic of Le Pouliguen.

“Important life changes - divorce, inheritances and growing families - ensure a turnover of the stock, certainly less active since the change in capital gains legislation. Though the figures should be set in perspective. Psychologically, the tax is never easy to pay ; yet those who acquired properties from 1995 to the year 2000 are making 2 to 2.5 times their initial outlay,” points out Jacques Lemaître of Orpi AGP Immobilier. Out of ten transactions completed between March and April, eight concerned houses, two apartments ; nine were concluded thanks to prices which were lowered during the winter. Apartments set back from the harbour and the sea are pegged on average from 3,000 to 3,500 €/m2. As for fans of plunging views of the ocean, they pay from 200,000 to 600,000 € for apartments from 40 to 90 m2 with parking facilities and occasionally a terrace. The agency’s latest transactions for houses range from 210,000 to 430,000 €. The lower end corresponds to a house of 70 m2 to renovate, without insulation or heating, with a garden of 700 m2, whence a cost close on the price of the land. This type of property would require renovation to the tune of 150,000 € and then could easily be re-sold for 360,000 €. The upper end of the bracket brings a house of 140 m2 in need of a lick of paint, with a garden of 900 m2 only 350 metres from the wild coastline. Le Pouliguen is much more family-oriented than La Baule. Its prices are traditionally more affordable, despite a less marked disparity over the passing years.