Villefranche and Le Beaujolais, at the gateway to Lyon

Beaujeu was the historic capital of the old French province to which it gave its name. Today, Villefranche-sur-Saône is the main town in Le Beaujolais. A region and a city of which the people of Lyon are particularly fond.

Villefranche-sur-Saône is 35 km north of Lyon : a 35-minute train ride connects the towns, which no doubt exlains the area’s popularity among the Lyonnais. If working people from here and elsewhere opt for the town centre, they have a choice of apartments in both old buildings and new residences.

“We have seen a lot of new developments over the past ten years” says Laurent Dubuy of Beaujolais Immobilier. “Developers took advantage of unused land but also land sold off by heirs to large properties.” A beautifully renovated 1970’s residence offering quality materials will propose apartments at around 2,200 €/m2. Of lower quality, they can be found for 1,700 to 19,00 €/m2. In new developments, prices range from 2,700 to 3,500 €/m2. First-time buyers have budgets from 180,000 to 230,000 € on average and they comprise the majority of the clientele for homes in the town centre. Properties also targetted by retirees, wanting to be close to amenities. As soon as one leaves Villefranche-sur-Saône, the accommodation is low-rise, comprised of small “pavillons”, desirable residences, large properties, farms and châteaux. A “garland” of small villages with their charm intact - Cogny, Pommiers and Theizé - together with “Les Pierres Dorées”, also known as “Little Tuscany” due to its houses built of yellow-ochre stone, unfurls highly sought-after addresses. Traditional residences rub shoulders with contemporary houses designed by architects ; with easy access to the motorway, senior executives and self-employed professionals with high income move in to benefit from the advantages of the countryside paired with proximity to the town. “These homes offer lots of charm and tasteful appointments, in living space of around 200 m2 or posssbily more, with grounds of 2,000 m2,” explains Thierry Liatout of Montagne et Liatout. “Prices start at 500,000 €, sometimes going much higher.”

Robert Dumas of the Cabinet Dumas specializes in residences of character in Le Beaujolais. And he agrees : “We are dealing with properties which can attain 1 million euros or, for exceptional examples, up to 1.2 million.” The market has a few fine examples of extensive properties which have been fully rehabilitated by architects and will find takers among self-employed professionals and high-level executives, 90 % French. Also on this market until recently, the English tend more to be sellers rather than buyers because of the exchange rate. They are being replaced by Swiss and Belgian clients, not forgetting a few from Holland. The large majority of these lovely residences are not second homes. Their owners live there year round, some working from home. The market for holiday homes has, in fact, almost disappeared from Le Beaujolais over the past two decades. Family residences, passed on from one generation to the next, is a thing of the past, too expensive to maintain and, in any case, life-styles have changed.

What about building land ? It comes at a price in Villefranche and the outskirts of the town, at about 200 €/m2. The regulations known as SRU (“Solidarité et Renouvellement Urbain”) do not provide a solution, quite the contrary, and plots are becoming increasingly rare. Paradoxically, in 2011, the rental market did rather well. And estate-agents have noticed that many potential buyers prefer, at least initially, to rent rather than invest. Cautious, they are waiting to see how the market evolves after the presidential elections. People working locally or in Lyon thus pay 7-7.50 €/m2 for an apartment in a 1970’s residence, a rate that rises to 8.50- 9 €/m2 in new residences and up to 11-12 €/m2 for a home in a more convenient or more pleasant location. Overall, rents range from 380 to 400 € per month for a 1-bedroom apartment, 700 € for 3 bedrooms and 1,000 € for a house of 90 to 100 m2 with a garden of 1,000 m2. 2011 proved to be an average year, and 2012 got off to a slow start due to a banking sector much more defensive than in the past, and buyers waiting for May, 2012. Nevertheless, Villefranche-sur-Saône and Le Beaujolais in general represent a market of working people in an area benefitting from excellent means of communication, which should suffice to offset the crisis and make for a positive future.

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