The outskirts of Avignon

Renowned for its historic monuments listed as part of UNESCO’s World Heritage, the Popes’ City, 30 minutes from Marseille, 1 hour from Lyon and 2 hrs 40 by TGV from Paris, has long been a real pole of attraction. Locals and members of the working population transferred to the region share the villages on the outskirts of the town.

The greater urban area of Avignon hosts 175,000 residents, while the former centre of the Christian world is home to only 90,800. At the heart of a major road and rail intersection, the capital of the Vaucluse and its Theatre Festival welcomes 570,000 fans each year to its magnificent architectural site in Gothic style, just an hour’s drive from the Mediterranean and 2 hours from the nearest skiing resorts.

Based within the city walls, Lucie Clap of the agency Côté Sud Côté Rêve covers Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and Les Angles, communes in Le Gard with 12,100 and 7,750 residents respectively, perched on a plateau surveying the Rhône. The first has retained traces of a very rich past, as exemplified by the Philippe le Bel Tower, Pierre de Luxembourg Museum, Church of Notre-Dame and the Chartreuse du Val de Bénédiction. Local families and transferred employees apreciate the wooded areas and the presence of schools up to secondary level, the municipal pool, riding club and clinic. A very active industrial zone is to be found in Les Angles, together with the Parc du Soleil and Parc du Cosmos, paths frequented by painters and botanists. The Neuilly of Avignon and its quiet suburban environment are in high demand. A villa of 150-180 m2 with a garden of 800-1,000 m2, swimming pool, at least three bedrooms and a study, costs 650,000 €. Opting for this address involves the deliberate choice of a particular life-style. The same budget will bring an apartment of 140 m2 with a terrace inside the ramparts. Unlike parents with very young children, retirees from Paris don’t hesitate for a second to sacrifice the garage and outdoor area in exchange for charm. In fact, these two sectors of the clientele do not have the same goals or needs. Seniors from all over France are drawn by the cultural aspect of Avignon, a town less than a 3-hour ride on the TGV from the capital, offering prices lower than those in Aix-en-Provence. Local buyers looking for gardens set their sights on the area 100 metres around the city walls in order to reconcile both criteria. Since the end of the summer, there have been lots of visits. Unfortunately, transactions are hard to complete.

Luc Boissel of L’Immo du Particulier also covers Châteaurenard, Le Pontet, Les Angles, Villeneuve, Morières-lès-Avignon, Saint-Saturnin and Vedène. In Châteaurenard, one can still find “mas” priced from 600,000 to 900,000 €. By way of example, one seller is asking 880,000 € for a renov­ated house of 350 m2 in 46,000 m2 of grounds. This type of property is likely to be of interest to those wanting a real change in their lives, a return to nature or the experience of running a guest-house. Le Pontet is more suited to first-time buyers ready to pay 100,000 € for a 2-bedroom apartment or 200,000 € for a detached “pavillon” of 100 m2 with a garden of 350 m2. A villa of 200 m2 in grounds of 1,000 m2 may attain 450,000 €. Montfavet, a neighbourhood of Avignon just 5 km from the ramparts, has preserved its church, town-hall and village atmosphere. Apartments cost on average 2,000 €/m2, whereas houses here are priced much the same as in Le Pontet. The rural setting gives rise to more “mas” and “bastides”. In fact, some of the grounds can extend to 5,000 m2. Morières and Saint-Saturnin are fall-back markets for Villeneuve and Les Angles. Extremely lively and boasting a last-generation secondary school, the first offers homes 20 % cheaper for the same quality and appointments. Vedène, a locality undergoing real expansion, near all amenities, is the last fall-back solution in the area surrounding the gracious old town of Avignon.