Menton and Sospel

Menton’s seafront or the hinterland ? Each address has more than one asset up its sleeve. They both offer special features and undeniable charm.

They are 15 kilometres apart. Menton is a garden-town with a subtropical micro-climate. Nestling at an altitude of 350 metres at the heart of the valley of La Bévéra and at the gateway to the Mercantour Nature Park, Sospel offers all the charm of the mountains. One gazes out at the Mediterranean, the other surveys the Valley of Marvels. They both draw a clientele of retired and actively employed buyers giving priority to delightful settings, proximity to amenities, the call of the sea for one, lofty peaks for the other. Lively year-round, both Menton and Sospel see their population rise significantly in the summer season. The price to be paid for success.

“Confinement has reshuffled the cards, with real estate seen as a safe haven more than ever before,” says Dario Griffone of the Edouard VII agency in Menton. The list of priorities has changed, for acquisition of both permanent and second residences. Both local and international clients focus on larger apartments in the town centre, mostly accommodating families focusing on immediate proximity to shops and schools. 2- and 3-bedroomed apartments, costing over 500,000 €, are now more sought-after than studios and 1-bedroomed apartments. The hills above Menton play host to villas, again highly-prized by locals and foreigners. They offer generous living space (from 150 m2), gardens from 1,000 to 1,500 m2 and sometimes a pool, the most vital asset for many buyers. This type of property thus starts from 800,000 € and can attain 2,500,000 € depending on its location and amenities. Today demand exists, supply follows suit, and Dario Griffone remains optimistic : “Throughout the confinement, we continued to work and even organized sales via videoconferencing. Today’s tools enable us to present properties to clients all over the world”.

Specializing in sales and rentals in the valleys of La Bévéra and La Roya, the Agence Immobilière de la Cathédrale (a member of the FNAIM) was launched in 2009. Its Manager, Cathy Clermont, reports real enthusiasm for Sospel, its natural environment and immediate proximity to all amenities, shops, schools, doctors… It only takes 20 minutes to drive to Menton, 45 minutes to Nice (50 minutes by train), an important advantage. As a direct result, the supply of available houses is struggling to meet demand for the budgets concerned (300,000 to 350,000 €). Prices bringing a semi-detached house with 3 or 4 bedrooms and a small garden of 100 to 500 m2. “Up above Sospel, for 600,000 € or more, one can become the owner of a spacious villa of at least 200 m2 in grounds of 1,000 to 5,000 m2, with or without a pool.” Also highly sought-after, plots of about 1,000 m2 with a cabin (but no extension possible) fetch around 50,000 €. “Clients from Menton and Monaco are keen to acquire this kind of property allowing them to benefit from peacefulness and well-preserved nature on weekends,” explains Cathy Clermont. “We cover all requests, from studios to large residences.” Since deconfinement, her clientele comprised of young retirees and families has been joined by city-dwellers in search of na­ture and wide open spaces.

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