A buoyant market around Tassin-La-Demi-Lune
Radia Amar - 18 July 2014
At the gateway to Tassin La Demi-Lune, a number of villages are undergoing extensive urban development. Now linked to Lyon via efficient public transport services, they are drawing many Lyonnais in search of a pleasant family home between town and country.
At the Ouest Home agency opened 9 years ago, three out of every four sales concern Charbonnière-les-Bains. Awarded the “Villes et Villages Fleuris” label, this commune seen as “upper-cut” is popular among members of the working population : self-employed professionals or executives employed by Sanofi. Here, over 70% of the residents are home-owners, usually benefiting from high disposable income. Families are especially drawn to high-end estates, such as that of “Les Hautinières”. Based on a concept tried and tested in the USA, it consists of 200 villas sharing open green areas, including children’s playgrounds. “Here, a house of 120 m2 with 3 or 4 bedrooms can be had for around 440,000 €,” says Béatrice Fabre of the Ouest Home agency. “Those of 200 m2 with 6 or 7 bedrooms cost from 580,000 to 620,000 €.” Other desirable properties in the Charbonnière-les-Bains area are bourgeois residences with lots of character on Rue Jean Monet, the old silk-weavers’ neighbourhood ; offering lofty volumes and often 2,000 to 3,000 m2 of grounds, they are worth around 1 million euros.
Just 5 km away, the commune of Craponne is also seeing a new wave of interest. As witnessed by several new developments currently being marketed. “Of the 15 apartments we have been entrusted with marketing in “Le Florentin” - a light and airy residence with 49 units and the low-energy BBC label in the centre of Craponne - only four are still available,” comments Laurent Martins, who opened the Neo Immobilier agency with his wife Marjorie in 2008, based on the modern concept of tailormade assistance. These new apartments are proposed at 3,800 € per sq. metre. Older apartments post prices from 3,000 to 3,600 € per sqm. on all the communes around Tassin-la-Demi-Lune : Craponne, Grézieu-la-Varenne, Brindas, Brussieu, Francheville, Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, Saint-Genis-les-Ollières... With its shops and services, 2 crèches, 4 primary schools and an intermediate school, Craponne is often chosen by families from Lyon, who sell their apartments in order to acquire or build a house in this area benefiting from the new LEOL express bus-line. Inaugurated at the end of 2013, it is a real time-saver, taking passengers to the Gorge-de-Loup metro station or Lyon-Perrache train station in about 30 minutes. A real blessing for people working in Lyon ! “In the space of 6 months, we sold an entire lot comprised of about 10 building plots in Saint-Genis-les-Ollières. Offering surface areas of 600 to 800 m2, they were snapped up at prices ranging from 250,000 to 280,000 €. Including building costs, the total investment will be about 500,000 €,” explains Laurent Martins, giving by way of comparison a lot of eight building plots from 500 to 600 m2 on the commune of Tassin-la-Demi-Lune, which sold from 400,000 to 420,000 €. The ring around Tassin-la-Demi-Lune offers an appealing diversity of accommodation, from first purchases in the form of new apartments starting from 150,000 €, to lovely bourgeois homes or villas proposed at market prices which have now become more affordable. As illustrated by a villa in Craponne, acquired for 430,000 € seven years ago, which has just changed hands at 380,000 €.