Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse and Tosse, a trip into Les Landes

Two addresses both located 25 km from Dax and Bayonne and less than 10 km from the Atlantic Ocean. The resemblance between these two towns in the southern Landes stops there. Saint-Vincent attracts first-time buyers, while Tosse provides solutions for buyers who can’t afford the coast.

Renowned for its festivals, arenas, corridas, bull-fighting (though here with cows instead of bulls) and its rugby team, Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse is home to nearly 7,000 residents on Route 810, midway between the major towns of “départements” 40 and 64. Once focussing on shoe manufacturing, “it drew more workers than inhabitants” as the old-folk like to say. Today, that equation has largely been reversed. Tosse, with 2,100 inhabitants living around a church listed as an historic monument, looks more towards the ocean, Capbreton, Seignosse and Hossegor.

“Monsieur works in Dax, Madame in Bayonne : a home in Saint-Vincent is ideal,” says Florence Pinsolle of Acimflo, especially as the commuting can be done by train or car. All amenities are available on site. The town’s healthcare services, appreciated by seniors ready to pay 250,000 € for a home, and schools up to secondary level sought by families looking for first-time acquisitions and capable of investing 180,000 to 220,000 €, are weighty arguments. For 180,000 €, families can find a 1950’s-1960’s house with two or three bedrooms to restore or refurbish. For 220,000 €, they benefit from a contemporary house of 90 m2 with a garden of 700 m2 in a recent neighbourhood. This new category of clients has given a boost to the town which suffered from an aging image just a decade ago. For the same price, these buyers would only get a basic apartment with 3 or 4 main rooms in Bayonne. Since last fall, retirees from the region around Paris, holidays residents and nature-lovers have reappeared, in search of restored stone buildings starting at 400,000 €. Similarly, building land is attracting renewed interest. Recently, a couple acquired a plot of 1,500 m2 for 74,000 €. They were planning to build their home themselves, though others rely on local builders offering quality homes at about 1,200 €/m2. In October 2009, Bouygues Immobilier delivered a block of flats, while Seixo Promotion will soon be launching two estates with apartments and semi-detached houses. On average, new accommodation ranges from 2,300 to 2,500 €/m2. Our estate-agent does not deplore the crisis : “Saint-Vincent had reached a barrier, a saturation point. The recent adjustment in prices is beneficial. Nevertheless, to chalk up the same turnover as previously, you have to be much more energetic and offer a wider array of services”.

“At the turn of the century, a vast number of people from Bayonne arrived in Saint-Vincent, atttracted by prices 30 % below those in the Prefecture. In 2007-2008, they set off towards the Basque country, leaving room for another set of customers. As a result, the population doubled in just five years,” explains Patrick Flageollet of Atlantique Sud Immo. Locals complain that the town doesn’t offer many shops. A gap soon to be filled by the opening of a large shopping centre at Saint-Geours-de-Maremne. As countrified as one could wish, Le Tyrosse and Le Fontainebleau contrast sharply with these areas, perhaps overly built-up, in the immediate vicinity of the Leclerc supermarket. In 2009, 80 % of the transactions handled by this agency were paid for cash. 30 % of the homes were sold to retirees from Paris, northern France or even the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, drawn by the area’s tranquillity and security. Demand for farms, generating heavy costs in refurbishment, is on the rise. Particularly experienced in the sale of land, Patrick Flageollet regrets not being able to benefit more widely from the “Pass Foncier” system in the Landes, a practice popular in the Basque country.

“Only a few kilometres separate Saint-Vincent and Tosse, yet their prices and customer profiles are surprisingly different,” says Bruno Fernandez of Tosse Immobilier. Initially, buyers who can raise from 250,000 to 300,000€ set their sights on Hossegor, Capbreton or Seignosse, before realizing that their budgets will not suffice. They then draw back to Saubion, Angresse and Tosse, 8 to 9 km from the first beaches. A typical house offers living space of 110-120 m2 with a garden of 800 m2. Enviable properties range from 600,000 to 1 million euros, a price-bracket which then faces competition from the coast. Interested parties have a clear idea, often pre-confirmed by their banks, of the mortgages they can obtain. Conversely, some sellers still lack realism, which inevitably blocks certain transactions.