30 km from Geneva, 25 from Annemasse, Thonon-les-Bains and Lake Geneva, this luxuriant, undulating valley with 8 villages, Boëge, Bogève, Burdignin, Habère-Lullin, Habère-Poche, Saint-André, Saxel and Villard, unfurls its charm in all four seasons. 20 % of its residents are holiday home-owners who join locals and people straddling the border.

This “Green Valley” is not content with pastureland and forests containing a succession of cherry trees, mountain ashes and flowery fields. It is home to authentic little towns built around ancient churches, recently renovated, and offers marked hiking trails where one comes across plentiful flora and fauna. It lies next to the Hirmentaz skiing domain with a total of 24 ski-lifts, 35 trails and 50 km of ski-runs. Leaving from Habère-Poche, a commune protected by four mountain-passes at altitudes ranging from 950 to 1600 metres, chair-lifts and tele-ropes join the resort. On reaching the orientation table at Miribel via Villard, a community with an art-and-cinema centre, fans of hiking can contemplate Mont-Blanc, Les Aravis, Lake Geneva and the Jura at their leisure. Others indulge in the joys of mountain-biking, horse-riding, skiing or even gliding. Those with a taste for local specialities can discover goat breeding and buy cheese. Finally, “Rock’n Poche” is a treat for guitar-buffs who come in growing numbers each year for the festival in August.
“Particularly keen on amenities, owners of holiday homes, whether French, Belgian, English, German or Swiss, are looking for addresses close to the slopes, preferably at Hirmentaz or Habère-Poche, an option that requires walking 300 metres to reach the first ski-lift,” explain Sébastien Beliot, Martine and Michel Fleury of Vallée Verte Immobilier. Showing renewed interest in family resorts and reasonable prices, they choose furnished studios from 30,000 to 45,000 €, or 1 bedroomed apartments costing from 50,000 to 65,000 €. Representing 60 % of purchasers, people working across the border benefit from very good salaries, advantageous borrowing rates and budgets of between 300,000 and 450,000 €. A 35-minute drive from the Swiss business capital, these excellent clients can acquire a chalet of 120 m2 in grounds of 1,000 m2 for 300,000 €, 140-160 m2 in grounds of 1,300 to 1,500 m2 for 380,000 €, or a partly restored farm from 250 to 450 m2 in grounds of 3,000 m2 for 450,000 €. The remaining 20 %, able to invest 200,000 to 250,000 €, work in Annemasse, Thonon or the Arve valley. They appreciate the rural world that lies only 10 minutes from the bridge of Fillinges and the A40, forming a junction between Geneva and Chamonix. The recent fall in prices of around 15-20 % has been a welcome development for the locals, now able to afford their own properties again. “Upper Savoy, an extremely active pool of employment, is also popular among transferred workers : 7,000 couples settle in “département 74” each year for professional reasons,” says Martine Fleury. “Slated for 2012, the opening of a CHU (University Hospital Centre) in Contamine-sur-Arve should give a further boost to the market. However, while the recovery seems to be confirmed, lots of visits and hard bargaining are still the order of the day.”
“Unlike the Arve area, the Vallée Verte escapes from noise and a blanket of winter fog,” adds Dominique Chioso of the NCI agency. The market remains relatively homogeneous. Close to main roads, Boëge offers a primary and upper school, and a municipal swimming pool. Very popular in winter, Habère-Poche has to offset the fact that it is further away by proposing attractive properties in terms of price or amenities. Currently, a chalet of 150 m2, perfectly appointed and decorated, in grounds of 1,000 m2, is priced at 505,000 €. Expensive for the locality, this price is justified by environment-friendly insulation and the use of highly resistant red cedar. Ecological issues are of prime concern, despite high building costs. Demand is particularly strong in the 270,000-350,000 € bracket. Dominique Chioso has, in fact, just sold a village house of 150 m2 in good condition for 320,000 €. Usually proposed at around 100,000 to 120,000 €, building land competes with older properties insofar as it allows for a finished home for total expenditure of 260,000-280,000 €. Finally, some investors acquire vast farm buildings which they then renovate and split into apartments.