France Property Prices 2026 — Europe Unlocked

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):

Indicator	Q1 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 2026	952,000

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.

Area	Apartments €/m²	≈ USD/m²*	Houses €/m²	Figure 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	€6,388	ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, Jun 2026
Aix-en-Provence	€5,329	$6,230	€6,484	ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, Apr 2026
Lyon	€4,673	$5,470	€5,649	ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, Jun 2026
Bordeaux	€4,371	$5,110	€4,916	ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, May 2026
Rennes	€3,912	$4,580	€4,994	ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, May 2026
Toulouse	€3,499	$4,090	€4,016	ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, May 2026
Montpellier	€3,325	$3,890	€4,176	ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, May 2026
Caen	€3,002	$3,510	€3,828	ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, May 2026
Rouen	€2,516	$2,940	€2,901	ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, Jun 2026
Périgueux (Dordogne)	€1,948	$2,280	€2,147	ESTIMATE — MeilleursAgents, Jul 2026
Dordogne (whole department, incl. rural)	€1,704	$1,990	€1,857	ESTIMATE — 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

INSEE / Notaires-INSEE index — the official quarterly price index for existing homes, built from notarised sales. The benchmark.
Notaires de France — quarterly market analysis, transaction counts, and forward projections from pre-sale contracts; median sold prices by commune on their interactive map (immobilier.notaires.fr).
MeilleursAgents (SeLoger/Aviv group) — monthly price estimates per m² for every commune, expressed net of fees.
SeLoger and Leboncoin — France's main listing sites; asking prices, useful for browsing, not for valuation.
DVF (data.gouv.fr) — the government's raw record of every notarised sale: price, address, surface. Free, and worth checking before you offer.

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.

Sales up 11%.
Prices up 0.1%.

The market in official numbers

Prices area by area

Where our numbers come from

What to watch

Sources

Sales up 11%.Prices up 0.1%.

The market in official numbers

Prices area by area

Where our numbers come from

What to watch

Sources

Notaire data lands quarterly. We decode it.

Sales up 11%.
Prices up 0.1%.