Maussane and Saint-Rémy
Radia Amar - 08 June 2020
A real picture-postcard of Provence, the Alpilles region offers a privileged lifestyle easily accessible by train and plane. Buyers are not mistaken. More and more of them are moving here to semi year-round homes.
A family firm founded in 2001, AJC Immobilier handles sales, property management and rentals in the area around Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Julia Thomassin Braille welcomes many buyers from large urban areas : “Our region is well served by Avignon’s TGV station and the Marseille-Provence airport in Marignane, so our clients are often looking for homes to accommodate their families and benefit from a fine art of living and the beauty of Provençal scenery all year long”. Here, the most widely sought-after properties are large residences with 4 or 5 bedrooms and a garden, in immediate proximity to Saint Rémy - especially those not requiring renovation. Their prices range from 750,000 to 2 million euros. “The confinement period has clearly reawakened enthusiasm for the South of France and particularly the region of the Alpilles,” says Julia Thomassin Braille. “The market has remained lively, underpinned by demand that always outstrips supply, and prices which, at this point, have not wavered : real estate is seen more than ever as a safe haven. Even more so, in a region like ours.”
Focusing on sales in the Alpilles, Colpaert & Wehrle has two agencies, the first in Maussane-les-Alpilles, the second in Eygalières. According to Cyrille Schiffler, 95% of the market here is dominated by holiday homes. “The average price of transactions is around 1.5 million euros, with wide enthusiasm for properties typical of the region rather than modern homes that are harder to sell.” In Maussane, the same budget brings a 4-bedroomed residence of 200 m2 in grounds of about 3,000 m2. “Over the past few years, activity has chalked up double-digit growth, explained by the attractiveness of the region’s villages which offer a full and varied range of shops, amenities and restaurants. In some neighbouring regions where this is not the case, buyers are becoming rarer. Who wants to drive 15 km to go buy bread ?” According to Cyrille Schiffler, demand dried up completely at the start of the confinement, picking up equally suddenly as soon as activity reopened : “We have been quite literally inundated wiith enquiries since May 11th, especially from city-dwellers who certainly do not want to re-live any new confinement in an apartment in town. In the current context, village life regains all its true meaning, especially in a region as pleasant as the Alpilles”.