Spotlight on Villefranche-sur-Mer and Beaulieu-sur-Mer
They share in common an idyllic location between Monaco and the Nice Côte d’Azur international airport, picture postcard scenery, and some of the most luxurious properties on the French Riviera. While they naturally have their own specific features, it is within their complementarity that they best unfurl their charms…
Villefranche-sur-Mer lies just east of the well-known neighbourhood of Mont Boron in Nice. A real amphitheatre overlooking the Mediterranean, from Mont-Leuze rising to an altitude of 577 metres down to the colourful shore, this town with 6,870 residents faces one of the world’s most beautiful bays, a majestic site inhabited since the Age of Antiquity. The Citadelle Saint-Elme and Chapelle Saint-Pierre, decorated by Jean Cocteau, are its main landmarks, while the little port of La Darse employs no less than 150 people in sea-related activities involving either boats or research. The town also owes its international reputation to “La Leopolda”, the world’s most expensive “garden property”. Only 7 km from Monaco, Beaulieu, home to 3,760 residents in winter, 8,000 in summer, offers beautiful “Belle Epoque” buildings and a seafront fringed with palm-trees, two harbours with 800 berths and the beaches of La Petite Afrique and the Baie des Fourmis. The casino, Le Bristol, La Rotonde and Le Palais des Anglais all recall the splendour of a bygone era. A fondness for spectacular architecture also shared by the Villa Kérylos, a sublime reconstitution of a villa in Ancient Greece.
“The buoyancy which has always been visible in Villefranche has caught up with Beaulieu over the past year,” says Benjamin Mondou of Century 21 Lafage Transactions. “New shops and restaurants are testifying to the quality of life in Beaulieu.” North and East Europeans appreciate its panoramic views of the azure sea and buildings offering lots of character, whether from the “Belle Epoque” or in fully-assumed contemporary style. Villefranche, however, has nothing to envy of its neighbour, with its magnificent bay and picturesque medieval village. “Le Castelet” is the only private estate between Nice and Monaco. Its 60 or so villas are worth from 1.2 to 12 million euros, this last figure applying to a property of 400 m2 in perfect condition, in 2,000 m2 of grounds overlooking the Deep Blue Sea. Villefranche also offers smart apartments in residences with terraces, pools and sea views. Their prices range from 8,000 to 12,000 € per sq. metre, while highly-coveted penthouses will cost close on 15,000 € per sqm.
“The average price is around 2 million euros in Villefranche and Beaulieu,” says Jean-Philippe Costa of the Blue Immobilier agency. “In any event, that is the budget required for a house of 150 m2 in Villefranche that needs freshening up. At the top end of the scale, there are fewer clients, though they are just as serious, and convinced of the long-term value of these investment assets.” Both towns offer a considerable number of micro-markets, so-called niche markets with specific and deeply rooted features. The intrinsic qualities of each property, access to a beach, panoramic views, roof-terraces or being on a private estate, then justify the difference. Beaulieu owes its more elitist reputation to the rarity of properties around 1 million euros. A “Belle Epoque” residence of 250 m2, characterized by very high ceilings, with a garden of 1,000 m2, is here worth 3 or 4 million euros. Clients all appreciate the non-seasonal aspect of Beaulieu, its village life and virtually flat layout, allowing residents to be within walking distance of all amenities. It is not, in fact, rare to see spikes up to 6-7 million euros. Closer to Nice’s job pool, Villefranche is popular among the locally employed.
“You can hardly talk about Villefranche and Beaulieu without mentioning Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, with which they form the “Golden Triangle”,” adds Tatiana Larionova of Haussmann Riviera Real Estate, who goes on to describe sales orchestrated by the agency last year, between 3 and 7 million euros. Starting with a residence of 400 m2 in impeccable condition and offering luxury appointments near the centre of Beaulieu, priced between 6 and 7 million euros, and a famous water treatment plant transformed into an ultra-contemporary luxury villa in Villefranche, which sold for around 6 million euros. Even if the property is intended as a holiday home, buyers’ expectations are just as demanding. Clients from large cities all over the world insist on the same standards of quality, design and home automation as in their home towns. The three addresses are not seen as competing with each other, but rather as complementary. A few months ago, a Kazakh client with a budget of 12 million euros visited properties in all three towns before opting for the magic of Saint-Jean, after finally passing on a house in “Le Castelet”, the private domain renowned for its breathtaking views of the peninsula and the bay. Haussmann International is currently proposing a property of 270 m2 in pure 1930’s Riviera style, in an idyllic environment in immediate proximity to “La Leopolda”, offering a stunning view of the Mediterranean. The presence of Russian and English clients alone - two nationalities which are nevertheless likely to repatriate their capital due to their respective political situations -, suffices to fuel her optimism. Top-notch properties find takers without too much difficulty as long as their prices correspond to the market. Finally, there is very little building land in either Villefranche or Beaulieu : property developers are thus constantly restoring the historic heritage of this corner of paradise.
