Mougins, the charm of a country village

Art-galleries, good restaurants, Provençal architecture and luxury villas... This chic out-post of Cannes deserves its nickname as a “garden town”. Only 6 km from the Mediterranean, the ancient village laid out in a spiral formation is certainly not lacking in character. With close on 19,000 residents, the commune of Mougins also plays host to almost 20 % of the Sophia-Antipolis science and technology park.

Accessible via the A8 motorway, Mougins is a 20-minute drive from the Nice Côte d’Azur Airport. To the east and west, and in Tournamy and Le Val de Mougins, it nestles amidst dense vegetation. Housing is mainly horizontal and individual, an option leaving a large share to nature. Luxury and prestige are the rallying cries of this “Ville et Métiers d’Art”. In 2008, the Challenge magazine designated the commune, which benefits from clinics and schools up to intermediate level, as a particularly well-managed address. As of January 1st, 2014, Mougins will come under the “Communauté d’Agglomération des Pays de Lérins” together with Cannes, Mandelieu-La-Napoule, Théoule-sur-Mer and Le Cannet.

“The market is quiet and owners are beginning to realize that a smooth flow of activity requires them to lower their expectations,” says Denis Desartine of Côte d’Azur Sotheby’s International Realty. The market for year-round residences is in fact livelier than that for holiday homes. Most budgets range from 800,000 € - the sum required for a house of 150-200 m2 in need of renovation in grounds of 1,000-1,200 m2 - to 1.5 million euros, bringing a home of 250 m2 in perfect condition in grounds of 2,000 m2 in a quiet neighbourhood. French clients looking for reirement in the sun are still much in evidence. Together with east Europeans, who arrive with their families and enrol their children at the Mougins School or the CIV in Sophia-Antipolis, wanting to benefit from a safe and pleasant setting as well as a sound asset, for which they pay from 2 to 4 M €.

“While British clients have virtually disappeared, Scandinavians, and especially Norwegians, are showing real interest in this address. Their budgets fall into a wide price-range, from 600,000 to 2 million euros for houses, and from 400,000 to 800,000 € for apartments,” says Guy Thill of Azur Contact Immobilier. Depending on the address, view and appointments proposed by the residence, the price per sq. metre ranges from 3,000 to 8,000 €. The commune’s broad diversity of housing explains wide differences in the prices. Les Parcs de Mougins, the Chemin des Colles, Chemin de Pigranel and Le Redon top the bill, whereas Tournamy is more of a neighbourhood reserved for the locally employed. The old village is, of course, a micro-market. A house of 150 m2 with a garden and panoramic view of the Bay of Cannes, situated on the edge of the village, would find a taker at 800,000 € in the year 2000 and change hands five years later at 2 million euros. The golf-courses are still attractive. By way of example, the Domaine de la Peyrière, right on the edge of the Golf Country Club de Cannes Mougins, has properties worth 800,000 to 2.5 million euros. In these troubled times, potential buyers make audacious and even outrageous offers, in spite of the advice of estate-agents, thus contributing to the current stalemate. It’s a time for prices to decline a few notches, though no-one is talking about a collapse in the market.

“The estate-agent’s task is to find a meeting-point between the asking price, often over-valued, and demand from clients searching for a bargain,” comments Fabienne Cursaz of L’Agence Les Pierres. People working in Sophia Antipolis look for houses with three or four bedrooms, priced from 600,000 to 800,000 €. But owners are not yet ready to accept such levels. Market activity is therefore shrinking, even if demand remains constant. Despite the noise from the road network, Mougins is, in popular belief, synonymous with a high-quality lifestyle. Inside the village, prices are always too high to win any votes. “Sellers should accept the idea of on-going assistance from estate agencies,” adds Fabienne Cursaz. “It is always risky to have too many contacts and too many channels of communication. After a few weeks of all-out, daily advertising, properties in fact end up by losing some of their value.”