The foothills of Le Vercors

In the département of L’Isère, Saint-Marcellin plays host to 8,050 residents at the departure-point for all the paths leading to the mountain chain of the Vercors. The medieval village of Crest serves as the central town for the valley of the Drôme. About 20 km from the Massif and 10 km from the TGV station in Valence, Romans-sur-Isère benefits from a strategic location.

A meadow, a new subdivision, houses and apartment buildings, a church tower, two châteaux, open greenery and Le Vercors in the background... 50 km from Grenoble and Valence, Saint-Marcellin, well-known for its cheese and Royans ravioli, has both schools and sports clubs. The capital of the southern Grésivaudan makes part of its living from the agro-food, wood and plastics industries. Crest partly owes its strong identity to its famous keep overlooking the old town since the 12th centry A.D. Infrastructures are certainly not lacking : primary schools, crèche, hospital, mediatheque, shops and services. On the right bank of the Isère 20 km north-east of Valence, Romans comprises with the neighbouring locality of Bourg-de-Péage an agglomeration hosting some 50,000 inhabitants.

Responsible for four Immotions agencies in Saint-Marcellin, Beaurepaire, Alixan and Romans, Marie-Jo Soulier covers the area stretching from Saint-Marcellin to the foothills of Le Vercors, an area 45 minutes from Grenoble, Valence and the first ski-slopes. “90 % of acquisitions concern year-round homes. Buyers employed in the capital of L’Isère, the Drôme or the resorts, including a good percentage of engineers and senior executives, pay from 220,000 to 270,000 € for villas with 3 or 4 bedrooms and gardens of 600-1,200 m2, in need of a revamp if they are at the lower end of the bracket.” Over the past six months, the prices posted are automatically subject to bargaining. Compared to 2011, they have already dropped by about 20 %. By way of example, a detached house of 140 m2 built ten years ago, with a garden of 1,000 m2 over towards Saint-Romans, was put up for sale at 280,000 €, and finally sold for 235,000 €. The owners had paid 250,000 € in 2005. The market has seen something of a clean-out and now offers good value for money. It is still, however, very hard to get owners to accept the current situation : if they come to grasp with it, they save time, energy and further losses.

“Crest lies in the southern foothills of Le Vercors,” explains Lucille Bernard of Guy Hoquet L’Immobilier. “Popular among tourists, it is 1 hr 30 from ski resorts and the sea, and therefore lively and active all year round. Even so, only 50 % of transactions concern holiday homes. Dutch, Swiss, Belgian and English clients, not forgetting French buyers from the Lyon-Paris corridor, all appreciate the human dimension of the town, its rural surroundings and temperate climate.” For their holiday homes, they pay from 150,000 € - bringing a village house of 100-150 m2 to renovate, benefiting from a terrace - to 1 million euros - the price of a soundly-built “mas” or “bastide” of 300-400 m2 on about 2.5 acres of land with a pool and tennis court. In this category, further expenditure is currently limited to 300,000 €, with demand for B&B properties showing a sharp decline. Locals, who can only afford to pay from 200,000 to 350,000 €, work in the Drôme valley or the area round Valence. They set their sights on single-storey villas with three bedroms and a garden, a recurrent item on their list of requirements. These clients are serious and have the means to buy. As for the sellers, two obstacles persist : some withdraw their properties from agency files, hoping for better days, others hang on to their illusions about market prices.

“Marques Avenue, a village consisting of a designer sales outlet over towards Romans, draws visitors from outside the département. While some fall for the charm of the region between Le Vercors and the hilly part of the Drôme, the percentage of acquisitions of holiday homes is pretty low, and in any event lower than in Saint-Donat,” comments Paul Clappe of Paul Clappe Immobilier, who runs two agencies in Romans and Saint-Donat, and has recently opened a third in Tain-L’Hermitage. Romans is the core of life in the foothills of Le Vercors. The inauguration of the “Cité de la Musique” in June testifies to a desire to develop cultural activities in a town still marked economically by de-industrialization. Residents have high expectations for projects such as development of the zone around the TGV station. Most transactions range from 150,000 to 200,000 €, the budget required for a “pavillon” of 100 m2 with a garden of 600-700 m2. As for Tain-L’Hermitage, a commune surrounded by vineyards in the valley of the Rhône posting slightly higher prices, it should benefit from this October’s opening of the “Cité du Chocolat” initiated by Valrhona, with an estimated influx of 300,000 visitors per year.