Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse, a market full of contrasts

Once a simple drive-through town, a crossroads for major routes to Paris, Bordeaux and Toulouse, Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse has exercised appeal of its own since 1955, as proven by the explosion in its population figures.

Over the past four decades, the population has more than doubl­ed, now attaining about 7,700 inhabitants. Between Dax and the Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz agglomeration, equi-distant from the prefectures of the Landes and Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse offers easy access to tourist and economic centres. The locality boasts educational, cultural, social and sports facilities. The main town in a canton comprised of eleven communes, it owes its reputation to its Landaise fêtes, arenas, corridas and bull-running. In the 1990’s, it fell victim to a crisis in the shoe industry, though at the turn of the century the commune saw a transformation with the development of the Casablanca crafts and industrial zone. In parallel, the service sector took off again, offering residents a wide array of shops and amenities.

“It’s always hard to come up with a fixed represent­ation of a market which is changing from month to month and from one agency to another,” comments Florence Pinsole of Acimflo. “Currently, an agency able to offer properties from 180,000 to 220,000 € will chalk up sales, on condition that it combines its offerings with a coherent relationship between prices and quality.” Buyers now find themselves in a strong position. Mainly comprised of locals aged from 25 to 40 working within a 20-km radius around the town, the clientele tends to be highly pragmatic. Even when they are serious about acquiring a property, they often depend on the sale of their own home going through. Agencies are obliged to deploy the basic services of their trade. Some clients are buying a home they will live in for their entire lifetime, and thus have specific demands which are perfectly legitimate. By way of example, a 3-bedroom house built in 1970, requiring some renovation, was snapped up in 30 days for 190,000 €, simply because the sellers were reasonable. On the other hand, a property of 170 m2, in need of modernization and up-dating in terms of electricity, with a garden of 1,200 m2, swimming pool and double garage, only found a taker at 270,000 € after being on the market for nine months and following a drop of 80,000 € in the original price. Owners need to accept that, for 350,000 €, the buyer expects a home ready to move in, with appointments of a certain quality. As for building land, it is suffering from the switch to the RT 2012. Now mandatory, these new technical regulations raise the costs of construction, thus reducing the budget available for the plot itself.

Serge Pilke of Terres & Océan focuses on the coastal strip, Hossegor, Capbreton and Seignosse. It does, however, happen that he prospects in the direction of Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse, about 10 kilo­metres from the beaches, in order to propose properties of character, auth­entic old stone and spac­iousness for the same budget. As well as offering a location set back from the hubbub on the coast, these houses propose a price per sq. metre which is still attractive. A family moving here from abroad in search of a completely different life-style recently treated themselves to a restored farmhouse of 300 m2 with outbuildings on 9,000 m2 of land, for slightly under 600,000 €. And Parisian clients left the shoreline to move into a renovated 19th-century resid­ence of 300 m2 in grounds of 3,000 m2, 3 km from Saint-Vincent, for which they paid 520,000 €. Villages on the immediate ouskirts of the town, Saubrigues, Saint-Jean-de-Marsacq and Tosse, also have their fans. Compared to prices on the seafront, those a little further inland have shown a substantial decline since the end of 2008.