Saint Tropez real estate more expensive than Paris: Prices rise 15% since start of 2015

Property in Saint-Tropez has become even pricier than Paris. Wealthy buyers are once again purchasing houses in the chic seaside resort, paying up to 30,000 euros per square meter for a villa by the sea.

With its crisis years behind it, Saint-Tropez can now boast of being the most expensive town in France. Real estate in the area has become so popular that local professionals have started referring to it as a “magic bubble”.

Soaring high above Paris and Neuilly, normally the priciest French real estate, Saint-Tropez is once again sparking the interest of rich buyers.

After a drop of 35% in property prices over the past six years, the Saint-Tropez market has bounced back, with prices increasing by 15% since the beginning of 2015.

Real estate in the area is fetching its highest prices in years. An apartment in the city center now easily reaches 10,000 euros per square meter and property in the high-end Ponche area can cost almost 25,000 euros per m2. On the seaside, beachfront villas selling for 30,000 per m2 are increasingly common.

One of this summer’s bestselling properties, comprising 700m2, land and a swimming pool fetched the impressive sum of 14 million euros.

According to Peggy Bancquart, manager of the local Guy Hoquet agency, “the return of Swiss and German clients has revitalized the Saint-Tropez market”. This is at the expense of many Russian buyers who had cashed in on local property in the early 2000s, but have been forced to sell off investments due to the recent fall of the ruble.

The development of this “magic bubble” has also benefited from the decline of the euro against the dollar, according to local real estate professionals, with many American buyers also streaming in.

However, the market is no longer only dominated by rich foreigners. French buyers are purchasing more property in the seaside town as well.

Prized for its sun-soaked beaches, Mediterranean climate and stunning vistas of the Côte d’Azur, Saint-Tropez is rendered even more attractive by the fact that most major areas of interest are easily accessible by foot, unlike the rest of the coast which is notoriously marred by traffic jams.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons / Starus