Real estate: what are the most expensive neighborhoods in Caen?
By Christophe Jaquet
Published on
For two years, Caen (Calvados) stands out on the estate market French. According to the Bien’Ici site, which brings together major players in the sector, the city was already among the most sought after on the Internet.
One more proof of his insolent health? The National Federation of Real Estate Agents (Fnaim) has just given it. Along with Le Mans and Tours, it is in the top three cities where prices have increased the most in 2021. By rising to €3,102 according to Fnaim, the median price per m² has increased by 12.4%. Against 7.9% on national average.
For François Perron, brand new vice-president of the chamber of notaries of the Court of Appeal of Caen, in charge of communication, it now fluctuates “between 3,000 and 3,500 €”.
A level reached thanks to the performance of the beautiful districts of Caen. The specialized site Meilleurs Agents locates the most popular neighborhoods, and the most expensive streets. With confirmations and a few surprises, which demonstrated that the top of the real estate basket is evolving.
1. Old centre: around Place du Canada
Unsurprisingly, the most expensive streets are in the old hypercentre of Caen. Specifically around Canada Square. This district now has an average price of €5,500 per m². “It is almost double before the health crisis”, notes François Perron.
It can climb, according to him, “up to €7,000 per m² for atypical properties”.
At this altitude, the Best Agents platform has few streets. At €6,898 per m², near the Jardin des Plantes, we find rue du Vingtième Siècle, rue des Rosiers, rue du Docteur Rayer, with mansions and all “this preserved heritage, not destroyed by the bombings” of the Liberation, recalls Hugues Boutin, a seasoned real estate agent near the castle.
So many elements that have drawn “the old at the same price as the new”, notes Dimitri Ducastelle, manager of the 12 agencies of Folliot in Calvados. “Before, there was a gap of 15 to 20%. It has shrunk due to “lack of goods and high demand”:
Very few people are able to project themselves over two years, and the sale on plans. They reported on the old one.
At the same maximum average price rise the avenue de Bagatelle (odd side), near the Saint-Julien ditches, and the rue de l’Académie, the rue Beuvrelu or the rue Saint-Gabriel above the place Saint-Martin .
2. Old centre: around the Fontette palace
A little further down in the historic center of Caen, Place Saint-Sauveur and Rue Guillaume-le-Conquérant remain “a step above” for notary François Perron:
There is very little turnover. Lack of goods sustains very high prices.
According to Meilleurs Agents, they go up to €6,877 per m² on rue Guillaume-le-Conquérant, only on the side of the even numbers (opposite, it drops to €4,902 per m²). Around Place Saint-Sauveur, the maximum rating is €6,084 per m². And it is here that the median price is the highest in Caen: €4,500.
But the scarcity of goods is also a problem for the wealthiest buyers. Dimitri Ducastelle, following the example of these clients “who already have a 200 m² house on rue Caponière, who want to change to land with a swimming pool, not overlooked, without leaving the hyper-centre. They have 3 to 4 M€ in funds, but they cannot find it”.
3. A new district: Cité Gardin
Less well-to-do and seemingly less well-to-do neighborhoods can thus hold their own. This is the case for recent houses and large apartments around the Cité Gardin, in Grusse and Fred Scaramoni streets, which can climb to more than 6,000 € per m² for their services and the proximity to the Prairie.
For Dimitri Ducastelle, rue Grusse in particular “is often forgotten, despite its incredible location”. He recently sold a house there for 1.2 M €, on a plot of 800 m² admittedly, but “it is on a corner, and needs to be renovated”.
4. Around the University
Going back beyond the castle, the heritage of the Reconstruction has less character and exclusivity than the old centre. More than Saint-Jean, towards the marina, the districts around the University, near Vaugueux attract buyers “with a rejuvenated profile”, describes Dimitri Ducastelle. “A population over forties, who have succeeded and are already owners, and who want a little more. »
Example, “rue des Terrasses is very sought after, with a lot of transactions”. As a result, the m² can reach 6,203 €.
That’s almost €1,000 more than the tighter tangle of houses between the west side of rue de la Délivrande, avenue d’Édimbourg and the even side of rue Léon Lecornu.
5. A neighborhood on the rise: Hastings
In 2022, Stéphane Stankovic, manager of the independent mini network Nouvelles Demeures, observes an evolution. Caen’s top-of-the-range market “is in the process of decentralizing a little, what was not expensive can become so”. He believes :
Since Covid-19, the notion of neighborhood is less important.
Illustration near his agency, boulevard Dunois, where he won a “record price of €4,600 per m²” with houses that do not have the charm of the old center, but “very well placed, with good exposure, clarity, in perfect condition, and at the same time close to schools, services and outings to Caen”.
More broadly in the Hastings district, around the Saint-Nicolas church, on Bicoquet or Robert le Magnifique streets, properties are advertised, on Meilleurs Agents, at €5,462 per m².
The year when the market settles down
This year, all real estate experts agree on one point. With the war in Ukraine, the elections and uncertainties about taxation, the market is settling. According to François Perron, “there is a fairly clear rise from week to week in credit rates, and the banks are toughening their stance”.
Stéphane Stankovic is not yet witnessing a drop, “but a landing in prices”: “the goods have remained at the price before, not at the moment”.
Same story with Hugues Boutin, a seasoned real estate agent on the Vaugueux side:
At some point, you get to the top of the mountain, you can’t go up anymore. The last increase may be lost, we will come back to the penultimate one, it depends where.
But he reassures: “If the Caen market slows down, it never collapses, because it is carried by the coast, the University, the supply of services, large employers still there. And also by exceptional properties that are not very sensitive to the crisis.
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