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Sales up 11%.
Prices up 0.1%.

By Nick · Europe Unlocked · Every figure sourced to an official body and dated.

France's market found its buyers again — 958,000 sales in a year — but prices barely moved. The notaires call it "a recovery without excess." For a buyer, that means choice without a bidding war. Here are the official numbers.

Figures verified 8 July 2026

The market in official numbers

The reference measure is the Notaires-INSEE index of existing-home prices, built from actual notarised sales. Latest reading, Q1 2026 (provisional, published 28 May 2026):

IndicatorQ1 2026
Prices, France, year on year+0.1% (quasi-stable, after +1.0% in Q4 2025)
Prices, quarter on quarter+0.2%
Apartments, y/y+0.6%
Houses, y/y−0.2%
Île-de-France, y/y+0.6% (third consecutive quarterly rise)
Province (outside Île-de-France), y/y~0% (apartments +0.3%, houses −0.1%)
Transactions, 12 months to end-March 2026952,000

Notaires de France count 958,000 sales in the 12 months to end-February 2026, up 11% year on year. Their forward look from pre-sale contracts (avant-contrats) points to prices around −0.2% year on year by end-May 2026 — continued stability, not a new boom.

One thing France doesn't publish: a national price per square metre. INSEE and the notaires publish the index — the direction and speed of prices — not a single national €/m². Anyone quoting "the average French price per m²" is using portal estimates. We show city figures below and label every one.

Prices area by area

Paris and Île-de-France come from the notaires' own transaction database — official sold prices. Everything else is a MeilleursAgents portal estimate (net of agency and notary fees), updated monthly. Treat portal figures as indicative, not gospel.

AreaApartments €/m²≈ USD/m²*Houses €/m²Figure type
Paris (3 months to Feb 2026)€9,580$11,210—OFFICIAL — Notaires du Grand Paris, sold prices
Île-de-France (3 months to Feb 2026)€6,160$7,210—OFFICIAL — Notaires du Grand Paris
Nice€5,216$6,100€6,388ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, Jun 2026
Aix-en-Provence€5,329$6,230€6,484ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, Apr 2026
Lyon€4,673$5,470€5,649ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, Jun 2026
Bordeaux€4,371$5,110€4,916ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, May 2026
Rennes€3,912$4,580€4,994ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, May 2026
Toulouse€3,499$4,090€4,016ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, May 2026
Montpellier€3,325$3,890€4,176ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, May 2026
Caen€3,002$3,510€3,828ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, May 2026
Rouen€2,516$2,940€2,901ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, Jun 2026
Périgueux (Dordogne)€1,948$2,280€2,147ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, Jul 2026
Dordogne (whole department, incl. rural)€1,704$1,990€1,857ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, May 2026

*USD column converts the apartment figure at €1 = $1.17 (8 July 2026). MeilleursAgents figures are transaction-informed estimates expressed net vendeur (net of agency/notary fees), not official notaire data.

The spread is the story: a Dordogne house averages under €2,000/m² department-wide (with a very wide range — roughly €770 to €3,440/m² across the department), while Paris apartments sell at €9,580/m². Momentum over the past year: Rennes and Caen apartments +3.4%, Périgueux +3.6%; Bordeaux −1.6%, Montpellier −1.0%.

Where our numbers come from

The honesty note: asking prices on listing sites run above final sale prices — sellers anchor high and negotiate down, especially in a flat market. When a portal figure and a notaire figure disagree, believe the notaire.

What to watch

DPE energy ratings changed on 1 January 2026. The electricity conversion coefficient in France's energy-rating system dropped from 2.3 to 1.9, mechanically reclassifying an estimated ~850,000 homes out of "energy sieve" (passoire) status — without a single renovation. If you're eyeing an electric-heated rural house rated F or G, ask for a post-January-2026 DPE before you negotiate: the rating may have improved on paper. The rental bans still bite: G-rated homes have been barred from the rental market since January 2025, F-rated follow in 2028, E-rated in 2034. Sale of F/G homes remains legal but requires an energy audit.
Mortgage rates are drifting up, gently. The average rate on new French housing loans was 3.23% in February 2026 (Banque de France), up from 3.17% in January; the notaires cite around 3.3% over 20 years in April 2026. Non-resident buyers should expect stricter deposit demands than locals.
Dordogne buyers: a thin market cuts both ways. Despite the national rebound, cumulative sales since 2022 are down more than 25% in Dordogne, Lot-et-Garonne and Pyrénées-Orientales (Notaires de France). Fewer transactions mean longer selling times — and more room to negotiate when you buy.
Second homes carry extra tax. In roughly 3,700 high-pressure "zone tendue" communes, second homes can face a taxe d'habitation surcharge of up to 60%. If you buy before you move, you own a second home until you're resident.

Sources

  1. Notaires-INSEE index, Q1 2026 (provisional, published 28 May 2026), incl. transaction count: insee.fr/fr/statistiques/8995299
  2. Notaires de France, Note de conjoncture n°71 (April 2026) — sales volumes, avant-contrat projections, Dordogne volume caveat: notaires.fr
  3. Paris and Île-de-France sold prices (3 months to end-Feb 2026, published 30 April 2026): paris.notaires.fr
  4. City and department estimates: MeilleursAgents, e.g. Nice, Dordogne, Lyon — estimate dates as shown in the table, all checked 8 July 2026
  5. Raw sale records: DVF, app.dvf.etalab.gouv.fr
  6. Mortgage rates: Banque de France data as cited in the Notaires de France note above
  7. DPE calendar and 2026 coefficient change: industry/legal summaries incl. selectra.info — re-verify against legifrance before relying on it for a purchase
This page is general information, not legal or investment advice. Q1 2026 index figures are provisional; the next Notaires-INSEE release (Q2 2026) is due around the end of August 2026.
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