The countryside behind Cannes
Real estate does not escape from fads and fashions. While the past few years have been marked by enthusiasm for town centres and coastal areas, we are now seeing renewed interest in more countrified settings, privacy, peace and quiet…
Considered as the chic green outpost of the Festival City, Mougins ranks highest on the list. Popularity that this garden-village, only 6 km from the famous Croisette, owes to the charm of its medieval village laid-out like a spiral, its art-galleries, excellent restaurants and the quality of its residential accommodation. 19,000 people live on the commune, largely devoted to houses rather than apartments. Only half of the territory is built-up. Over 62 % of the residents live in villas. Mougins accommodates four clinics, schools up to intermediate level, including an international school, part of the Sophia-Antipolis science and technology park, and facilities such as the IME Mirasol and Eco’parc set on 6.25 acres of land with a lake, amphitheatre and recreation areas. In 1969, Valbonne’s vocation underwent a change with the construction of Sophia-Antipolis : 1,276 companies providing 26,000 jobs in the midst of the forest. Not far away, the region around Grasse offers old villages, woods, meadows and little rivers. A palette in Provençal style, exemplified by Opio, Le Rouret, Châteauneuf…, small villages in the countryside around Grasse, world capital of the perfume industry. The sub-prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes has no less than 51,600 residents and all the infrastructures necessary to everyday life.
“The “back-country” is a deceptive term. Our areas of Roquefort-les-Pins/Valbonne, Opio/Le Rouret, Châteauneuf/Bar-sur-Loup, Grasse and even the area inland in the Var are all very close to Cannes and the coast. When referring to the “hinterland”, the Germans employ a better description of what the area really is : these rural areas in fact lie just behind the Mediterranean shore,” says Bertrand Bocris of Michaël Zingraf Christie’s International Real Estate. “Most of our clients invest in second residences. 85 % of them are foreign, mostly European, with the British showing a renewal of interest in the destination and buyers from Eastern Europe seeing it as a more affordable alternative to the capes. Reassured by the existence of international schools and drawn by the six golf-courses, they pay from 1 to 20 million euros, with a core market ranging from 1.5 to 5 million euros.” Contemporary properties do not exceed 5 % of the total offerings, with the traditional Provençal style still reigning supreme. Mills rub shoulders with “mas”, “bastides” and houses on gated estates. Here, there is no ostentatious luxury, rather elegant authenticity, vast grounds and really appealing value for money. Among the latest sales orchestrated by the agency, Bertrand Bocris mentions an 18th-C. château of 750 m2 on almost 2.5 acres of land in a village in the Var, acquired for 2.4 million euros by a client from Monaco in search of a lovely natural setting, and a villa of 340 m2 in 3,500 m2 of grounds in Roquefort-les-Pins, priced at 2.6 million euros.
“Most transactions in the countryside behind Cannes handled by Marly Privilège over the past year ranged from 1 to 2.5 million euros, a really lively price bracket” says Carole Senac. “They mainly concerned Mougins. The estate-agent’s task is to find a point of balance between supply and demand, between owners’ greediness and the desire of buyers to take best advantage of the current climate.” Under the bar of 1 million euros, the locals are rather hesitant. Around 1 million euros, the clientele is French, often comprised of Parisians wanting to treat themselves to retirement in the sun. Over and beyond 2 million euros, one finds North Europeans looking for holiday homes. Houses of 250 m2 in flat grounds, without any particular view, are struggling, harder to sell than in the past. A view of the sea, quietness and a prized address, such as Les Colles, Saint-Barthélémy and L’Etang, are among recurrent criteria.
A few incursions to Opio and Valbonne aside, Aurélie Provost of Luxury & Family mainly covers Mougins, in the 1 to 4 million euro bracket, despite a property of 10 million euros sold to Irish clients as a year-round home ; they were partly motivated by the area’s international character and proximity to the Nice Côte d’Azur airport. Fans of the hinterland are drawn by its natural leafy environment, but also the human scale of its little villages. It also happens that some buyers, initially focusing on Cannes, finally opt, for the same budget, for these inland areas and more generous surface areas. If the reputations of Opio and Valbonne are more restricted to buyers within the region, that of Mougins has long crossed the borders of France.
