Just north of Toulouse

Moving to the outskirts of a large French city has certain advantages : more space, more affordable prices and individual housing. As long as one doesn’t have to sacrifice the benefits of urban amenities and closeness to shops and other facilities. Spotlight on Launaguet, Castelginest, Castelmaurou and Verfeil...

Launaguet with 7,150 residents is in the urban area of Toulouse, 9 km from the centre. Built in 1845 on the ruins of a manor house which had burnt down four decades earlier, its château, later transformed into the townhall, is listed as an Historic Monument. Once rural, the village became residential after the Second World War. Home to 8,750 people, Castelginest is just beyond Aucamville. Its population is relatively young and constantly rising, crossing the threshold of 8,000 residents at the turn of this century. As evidenced by the extension of the neighbourhood of La Grave. 3,500 people live in Castelmaurou, reached by the A68 and RD888. It has all it needs : a primary school, crèche, post office, cinema, numerous sports and cultural associations. While the trend seems to be turning, 75 % of the territory still gives precedence to natural open spaces and agricultural land. 15 minutes from the metro, the village can also be reached by bus from Toulouse. Far from contenting itself with a reputation as a dormitory town, it offers its residents a pleasant lifestyle and a diverse calendar of events. 19 km separate the “Pink City” from Verfeil, with 3,070 inhabitants. Its Tolosane and Vaureze gateways recall the days of fortifications, just like the château built in the 8th century. At an altitude of 220 metres, the ancient Cathar bastide watched “the little model girls” of the Countess de Ségur grow up and the construction of the château of Pierre-Paul Riquet, responsible for the building of the Canal du Midi. Since 1999, the population of Verfeil has risen by 22.6 %.

“Most of the buyers targetting Launaguet and Castelginest are making first-time purchases”, says Agnès Lavenu of the Garanti Vendu agency. They usually pay about 250,000 € for a 3-bedroomed house of 90-100 m2 with a garden of 500 m2, a property built in the 1980’s, often in need of a revamp. Sales orchestrated by this agency over the past six months do not exceed 280,000 €. With the exception of a fully renovated farmhouse of 250 m2 in grounds of 6,000 m2 set on a hillside offering a stunning view of Toulouse and the Pyrenees, acquired for 750,000 € by a self-employed professional, happy to live just 5 minutes from the ring-road. Both communes prov­ide all the shops and amenities required by families for everyday life, including schools up to intermediate level. Despite the proximity of job pools, the market here has not escaped the current sluggishness. Buyers adopt a wait-and-see attitude, sellers set their sights too high.

“With excellent road connections, Castelmaurou is 12 km from the famous Place du Capitole,” explains Laurence Guiraud of Castelmaurou Immobilier. Still very countrified, this extremely go-ahead village is seeing new housing rise from the ground. Elderly people who have sold sizeable properties on the outskirts of Toulouse pay from 300,000 to 450,000 € - often in cash - for “pavillons” of 140 m2 with gardens of 1,000 m2, wanting to stay close to Toulouse and its amenities but unwilling to resign themselves to living in an apartment. At prices above 300,000 €, buyers insist on contemporary appointments ; many think about building their own homes, if they could only find a plot, an increasingly rare commodity. First-time buyers cannot afford to pay more than 200,000 € for village houses to renovate or freshen up. As for couples with children, benefiting from the proceeds of the sale of an apartment in the “Cité des Violettes”, they pay about 250,000 € for a pleasant terrace house. The market here keeps its head above water precisely thanks to this mixed bag of buyer profiles and the diverse choice of properties, not forgetting the adjustment of prices on the downside and historically low mortgage rates.

“At the edge of Le Lauragais,Verfeil offers undulating country scenery a 15-minute drive from the gateways to Toulouse and the Gramont metro station,” says Jacques Chassant of Verfeil Immobilier, regional chairman of the SNPI (Syndicat National des Professionnels de l’Immobilier). The agency’s files contain small recent “pavillons” of 100 m2 ranging from 190,000 to 230,000 €, though this type of home, likely to be of interest to first-time buyers, is becoming increasingly scarce. Chalking up a tiny number of sales, Verfeil also has renovated châteaux and farmhouses with extensive grounds, priced from 500,000 to 1 million euros. Most of the transactions involve contemporary houses of 120-200 m2 with gardens of approx. 1,000 m2, priced from 280,000 to 500,000 € and appealing to people working in Toulouse but in search of a quality lifestyle. In today’s climate, transactions take longer to complete than in the past.