The centre of Bordeaux : an attractive and go-ahead market

Bordeaux is listed among the favourite cities of the French, thanks in particular to its town centre, rehabilitated and greatly enhanced since the years 2000. Demand is very steady here, underpinning high prices.

Lively, with lots of shops and crossed by the tramway, the centre of Bordeaux offers a very pleasant urban life-style : listed as part of UNESCO’s World Heritage since 2007, it is first of all a real open-air museum. It also benefits from several parks and gardens, including the attractive “Jardin Public” (occupy­ing almost 25 acres), and the delightful quaysides along the Garonne, now tastefully refurbished. Not forgetting that the city boasts a prestigious and highly sought-after “Golden Triangle” (defined by Cours Georges Clemenceau, Cours de l’Intendance and the Allée de Tourny).

As a result, “the town centre is in high demand despite relatively limited offerings, which continues to push prices higher,” explain Pascal Boulonne, Nathalie Andria-Baugé and Maxime Gallice, associate directors of La Bordelaise de l’Immobilier, an agency opened in 2010 focusing on the sale of middle- and high-end properties in the hyper-centre and its immediate periphery. For apartments, the price per sq. metre, “now rising in a more reasonable manner”, ranges from 4,500 € for large surface areas to 6,000 € for the smallest. “The building’s condition, the precise floor, the existence of a lift and parking facilities, are all very important criteria.” Those looking for houses head for neighbourhoods close to the Boulevards of Saint-Seurin, Jardin Public, Chartrons or Croix-Blanche : “Depending on whether they have an outdoor area or garage, whether they require renovation or not, they cost from 3,000 to 4,500 € per sq. metre”. Clients of La Bordelaise de l’Immobilier are mostly actively employed and aged from 30 to 45. Half of them come from outside the region. The agency’s most recent sales include a renovated apartment of almost 70 m2 near the “Golden Triangle”, priced at 320,000 €, and a building of 210 m2 in the Jardin Public area, in need of refurbishment and priced at 630,000 €.

Juliette Champeil and Virginie de Kerhor, manageresses of Bordeaux Montaigne, an agency opened in 2011, specialize in rare and prestigious properties (outstanding apartments and buildings, private mansions…) in Bordeaux, Caudéran (a residential neighbourhood), Le Bouscat and the Bassin d’Arcachon. In the city centre, they cover the “Golden Triangle”, Le Quai des Chartrons and Jardin Public : “Prices range from 5,000 to 6,500 € per sqm., sometimes attaining 7,000 € per sqm. for impeccable properties - top-notch appointments, tasteful renovation, lifts and parking facilities”. Prices which “are not registering any declines, and which even tend to rise in certain sectors and for certain types of properties”. Most demand is for apartments of 100 to 170 m2. “These clients have usually sold a house to move into the centre where they can do everything on foot. We then receive enquiries from couples with children, looking for apartments of about 200 m2.” Two-thirds of Juliette Champeil and Virginie de Kerhor’s clients come from other towns, especially Paris. Their latest sales include two buildings near Jardin Public, with total living space of 700 m2 to renovate, for under 2 million euros, “offering high potential to create a private mansion”, and another building of 300 m2 in the Triangle, also sold for less than 2 million euros to “a property dealer who will turn it into apartments”.

Responsible for Bordeaux for the past four years for Christie’s International Real Estate (Maxwell Storrie Baynes), Béatrice Blanchy specializes in prestige properties in the Pearl of Aquitaine, the centre of Bordeaux, Caudéran and Le Bouscat. Reporting strong demand for properties of 150 to 200 m2, she confirms “rising prices for the most sought-after homes”. Her latest transactions include an apartment of 150 m2 priced at 700,000 € and another of 220 m2, sold for 1.1 million euros. “And two sales are currently underway : an apartment of just under 180 m2 in the Quinconces neighbourhood, priced at 1 million euros, and another of 90 m2 over towards Jardin Public, at 310,000 €.” Béatrice Blanchy is also currently handling the sale of an apartment of over 200 m2 in the same area at 848,000 €, and another of approx. 220 m2 in perfect condition, at 1,260,000 €. “This last one is in a handsome building on a residential road, quiet and close to shops. It offers magnificent old features : high moulded ceilings, generous proportions, fireplaces…” Her clients, “often from Paris”, have substantial budgets. “Beyond 1 million euros, they are usually aged over 60.” Some investors are also in evidence, looking for small surface areas or entire buildings.