At the gateway to Monaco

Monaco has four neighbouring communes : Cap-d’Ail, La Turbie, Beausoleil and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. Small towns in privileged settings, which attract a well-heeled clientele wanting to be in immediate proximity to the Principality.

Living at the gateway to Monaco comes at a certain price : “From Cap-d’Ail to Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, the price per sq. metre of a typical apartment which does not necessarily offer a view ranges on average from 4,000 to 4,200 €. If it has been renovated, it is worth 4,700-5,000 € per sqm.,” explains François Coletti, manager of Immobilia 2000 France, an agency in Beausoleil which covers the area between Nice and Menton. “However, our portfolio contains lots of “love at first sight” properties with beautiful terraces and enchanting views, which sell very easily from 6,000 to 7,000 € per sqm.” As for houses in this part of the world, “they are often seen as prestige assets”. Prices start from 600,000 €, though “outstanding properties right at the water’s edge with panoramic views on Cap-d’Ail or in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin are not really bound by any limits”. François Coletti nevertheless tries to pursue a “logical approach to real estate”, giving free estim­ates “so that sellers have a realistic idea of their property’s market value “. Buyers are “working people who need fast and easy access to Monaco, foreigners in search of summer holiday homes, and residents of Monaco wanting to spend their weekends out of town”. Not forgetting investors : “The market here features many “Belle Epoque” properties which, once renovated, are very rewarding from a re-sale point of view. And high demand for rentals in this area encourages this type of investment, with a pre-tax yield of around 6 to 7 %”. By way of example, a fully renovated and furnished apartment of 25 m2, acquired for 170,000 €, can currently be rented out for 950 € per month.

Sylvie Moreau, manageress of Mickaël Victoria Immobilier, an agency also based in Beausoleil (for the past 10 years), confirms that “as well as being drawn by the area’s natural beauty, clients want to be close to Monaco and its activites. Many who live in Nice or the back-country, tired of driving back and forth every day to work in the Principality, decide to sell their homes to buy a property here”. Specializing in high-quality products, Sylvie Moreau also receives enquiries for holiday homes from foreign clients (Russian, English, Swedish), as well as investors. Most of the demand is for apartments with two or three bedrooms. As illustrated by two of her most recent transactions : a 2-bedroomed apartment of 80 m2 in Cap-d’Ail with a sea view, terrace and garage, priced at 450,000 €, and another in a new residence, at 440,000 €. “There are some very lovely residences in Cap-d’Ail, especially in the pinewood. In one of them, offering top-notch amenities - guardian, pool and park -, we marketed about a dozen properties in the space of three years, pegged at 7,500 € per sqm. The last one, of 90 m2, sold for 670,000 €. On this commune, the price per sqm. can, however, soar to 10,000 €.” Another highly-prized address is the plateau of Cap-Martin. “On the other hand, Beausoleil, where there are fewer villas, posts lower prices.” Sylvie Moreau describes a lively market : “This time of the year is usually quiet. Yet today, despite slightly lower demand for houses, the results are very positive”.

Based in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Bruno Cuevas, manager of Côté Sun Immobilier, has also noticed an up-turn in activity and “a choice that is currently quite wide”. Specializing in luxury properties, he proposes apartments ranging from 2 or 3 main rooms at 1 M €, to those of 90-100 m2 worth 3.5 M €. “In the case of villas, prices range from 2.5 M € for a property of 250 to 300 m2, to 20 M €, and occasionally more. Here, they are traditionally in “Belle Epoque” style, although we are also seeing an increasing number of Californian-style villas.” His clientele, partly from eastern Europe and “endowed with considerable financial means”, is also drawn by Monaco : “Purchasers who work or have family in the Principality want to be able to reach the centre in 5 or 10 minutes”. Examples currently on the agency’s files include an apartment of 170 m2 with a garden of 300 m2 and parking place in a park with a pool, facing south/south-west with a view of the bay of Monte-Carlo and the Golfe Bleu (Roquebrune-Cap-Martin), priced at 1.7 M € ; a fully renovated loft of 200 m2 (two bedrooms) with a view of the sea and Monte-Carlo, in a landscaped park with pool and guardian, pegged at 2.5 M € ; a Californian-style villa of 160 m2 in 900 m2 of grounds, at 3 M € ; and a restored master villa of 350 m2 in grounds of over 2,000 m2, at 7 M €.