A Home in A French City Might Suit You Best

Like countless Brits before them, Mark and Louise Sayers left a hectic London life to find rural bliss in France. Back in 2003, they settled in the countryside of Pyrénées- Orientales in Céret, a small town of 7,500 souls with a lovely Saturday market and several cafés and restaurants. But for them, village life didn’t live up to the hype. “It came as a shock when we wanted to eat out on a week night and found that we weren’t exactly spoilt for choice!” remembers Mark. “We gave the quiet life a go for 18 months before we came to the conclusion that, as lovely as it was, it simply wasn’t for us.” So the couple moved to Perpignan, the department capital. They and their two children have been part of the 118,238-strong population for 14 years now.

Lyon, Rhône

Average apartment price: €3,570/m2

Average house price: €494,600 The third largest city in France and capital of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region is wonderfully diverse offering the best cultural amenities but a slower, more relaxed pace of life than in Paris. Known as the foodie capital of France, Lyon is home to the iconic Bouchons restaurants and Les Halles de Lyon indoor market. The city also counts several UNESCO World Heritage sites and is a strong base for French industry while up-and-coming areas such as Confluences are attracting tourists and tech businesses. What’s more, the city has just overtaken Bordeaux according to the latest price barometer from Meilleurs Agents. Laura Brackenridge and her husband Thibaud bought an apartment to renovate in 2013. In their mid 20s at the time and with jobs in the centre, the couple chose the city over the countryside to suit their lifestyle wishes, also aware that buying in Lyon would be a good investment as they knew finding a tenant once they moved to a bigger property wouldn’t be a problem. “Lyon is the perfect size; large enough to have new places to discover but small enough to get around by bike or by foot,” says Laura. “With the hustle and bustle that comes with city life, it still manages to feel like a green city, mainly thanks to its huge park La Tête d’Or and two rivers that flow through the centre – the Rhône and the Saône. Not only are they and the numerous bridges picturesque, they also offer many leisure possibilities such as floating bars and restaurants, pedestrian and cycle paths along the riverbanks, and boat rentals.”

THE SUN-KISSED SOUTH

Nice, Alpes-Maritime

Average apartment price: €3,610/m2

Average house price: €494,200

If it’s sunshine, beach and southern energy you’re looking for, the city of Nice should be on your radar. With the turquoise blue Mediterranean just beyond the iconic Promenade des Anglais and the city centre set just behind it, Nice is full of the colours of the south. It’s famous for the picturesque Cours Saleya flower market, its joyous February carnival and its delicious food made with the best Riviera products. FPN contributor Carolyn Reynier lived in rural England and Scotland before she moved to Nice in 2006. “For me, it has been a joy to live in a large city where I can travel everywhere either by foot or on our excellent bus/tram system (I have no car),” she says. “I love swimming in the sea and right behind us we have the southern Alps and the National Mercantour Park with fantastic walking, pretty perched villages and valleys such as Vésubie, Tinée, Estéron and Roya, each with its own appeal. Summer and winter buses take you up for a day’s skiing or walking; walking clubs organise car-sharing and there are buses for weekly walks in the back country.”

Carolyn admits property is not cheap but she is prepared to pay the steep rent for her studio near the sea rather than move to the more affordable parts of the city in the north, west and east. “We have sunshine, good markets and food is cheap,” Carolyn says. “This 67-year-old divorcée has never been happier.”

Montpellier, Hérault

Average apartment price: €2,550/m2

Average house price: €269,500 One of France’s fastest growing cities, the préfecture of the Hérault department is a bustling university city with a young and dynamic population. It has a lovely climate, gorgeous beaches just a short tram ride away, and interesting architecture, including its famous folly mansions and châteaux.

AFFORDABLE & UNDERRATED

Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales

Average apartment price : €1,170/m2

Average house price : €161,400

Surprisingly affordable, Perpignan could give some of France’s larger cities a run for their money in terms of amenities and lifestyle. Set about 30 minutes from the Spanish border and ski slopes in the Pyrénées and just 13km from the Mediterranean, its location is hard to beat. The human-sized city has a strong Catalan heritage and is lovely and green. With a packed cultural calendar, it’s also an extremely family-friendly place. “It is a small, compact and relatively quiet city which suits us and our two children (13 and 11) perfectly,” says Mark Sayers who runs his estate agency Artaxa, in the city. “We can walk to everything that we need including the school, countless restaurants and shops, a lovely park, the covered food hall, the theatre and the cinema, and we get our taste of the countryside when we walk the dogs down by the River Têt admiring the stunning view of Mount Canigou.” While Mark says he and the family enjoy being in the historic city centre close to everything, you can escape the hustle and bustle by heading out from the centre and even find “villa-style houses with gardens rather than the apartments and townhouses of the centre”.

Toulouse

Average apartment price: €2,600/m2

Average house price: €330,000

Toulouse scored highest in a recent survey looking at the affordability of new homes in France’s 10 largest cities. The online new-build specialist Trouver-un-logement-neuf.com found that you could bag a two-bedroom apartment for €215,200 in the Pink City, thanks to an abundance of new-builds on the market. As a city, Toulouse’s rich heritage mixed with a dynamic and multicultural population – university students and workers at the aerospace hub – make it an interesting and animated place to live.

sources: French Porperty News, June 2018