The average price per m² in Aulnoy-lez-Valenciennes is 2 692 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 14 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Aulnoy-lez-Valenciennes, in the southern suburbs of Valenciennes, at the foot of the Mont Houy campus.
The average price recorded in Aulnoy-lez-Valenciennes stands at 2 692 €/m². That average relates above all to apartments, the segment that dominates recent transactions in the municipality. One local feature is worth noting: in this market, apartments trade per square metre above older houses. On the Mont Houy plateau the municipality hosts a large share of the recent blocks and developments tied to the university campus, whose small new or renovated units pull the price per square metre upwards, while the older brick detached-house stock sits at a lower level. According to INSEE, the French statistics institute, the municipality has around 3 500 dwellings, of which close to 60 % are houses and 40 % apartments. The price figures come from the DVF database, which lists the transactions actually registered with notaries.
Prices from the DVF file (Demandes de valeurs foncières, published by the DGFiP), transactions actually recorded at the notary at municipality level. Cross-referenced with the Notaires de France - INSEE indices. Learn more about our methodology.
The Aulnoy-lez-Valenciennes market is governed first of all by its university role and by its integration into the Valenciennes urban area. The Mont Houy campus, the health hub and the tram feed continuous rental demand for small units, which supports apartment prices. In parallel, the detached-house stock answers a clientele of families looking for a home close to the town without paying its prices. That twofold demand makes the market less dependent on a single type of buyer than in a purely residential municipality.
Two factors weigh on the coming years. The municipality is recording a slight fall in population and a share of vacant homes above the average, the sign of an older stock that is sometimes hard to let or sell as it stands, on which energy renovation is becoming a bargaining point. Conversely, the vitality of the campus and the tram service keep pressure on the student rental segment. The gap between an older stock in need of renovation and sought-after recent small units should continue to shape the market.
The immediate southern suburb of Valenciennes, Aulnoy-lez-Valenciennes reads first of all against its central town and the neighbouring municipalities of the urban area. Its level is pulled upwards by the student market of Mont Houy, where Marly and Valenciennes show more classic suburb and central-town profiles.
Aulnoy, long called Ausnoit then Aulnoit, owes its name to the alders that flourished on this damp soil crossed by the Rhônelle. A Roman presence is recorded in the area, notably through the working of old peat bogs from which a fuel more resistant than wood was drawn. The municipality long remained rural, then followed in the eighteenth century the manufacturing rise, in particular in textiles, of the villages around Valenciennes. The suffix lez-Valenciennes, meaning close to, says the essential of its geography: Aulnoy forms the immediate southern suburb of the town, to which it is now joined.
The recent turning point lies in the establishment, on the Mont Houy plateau, of the university campus shared between Aulnoy, Valenciennes and Famars. The Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France and INSA Hauts-de-France welcome several thousand students there, served by a tram line linking the plateau to the centre of Valenciennes and to the station. The campus has its own health centre and student residences, several of them on the territory of Aulnoy. That university role has turned a residential municipality of the Valenciennes ring into a student housing hub, which weighs directly on the structure of its property market.
According to INSEE, the French statistics institute, Aulnoy-lez-Valenciennes has around 7 080 inhabitants and 3 500 dwellings, of which more than 93 % are main residences. Slightly more than half of households are tenants and single-person households account for close to half the total, two high figures that bear the mark of the Mont Houy campus. The local market reads on two levels. On one side, families buy the brick detached-house stock, inherited from the Valenciennes ring, for a home close to the town and to local employment. On the other, the university presence and the health hub feed demand for rental investment in small units, studios and one-bedroom flats, driven by the student population and university staff. That twofold clientele partly explains the level of apartments per square metre.
The average price recorded is 2 692 €/m², calculated from the transactions registered by notaries and published in the DVF database. It is a municipal average, which covers very different situations: a recent studio close to the Mont Houy campus and an older brick town house do not belong to the same segment. The condition of the property, its floor area, its position in relation to the tram and the presence of a parking place explain a good part of the gaps around that average.
It is a particularity of this university municipality. The apartments that sell are often recent or renovated homes, small in size, tied to the campus and to student rental demand. Now the price per square metre rises all the more as the floor area is small and the property recent. Conversely, the stock of houses is older and larger, which mechanically lowers its price per square metre. The ranking is therefore reversed compared with what is seen in many other municipalities.
Rental demand there is supported by the Mont Houy campus, which brings together several thousand students between Aulnoy, Valenciennes and Famars, and by the health hub and public-sector jobs of the area. Studios and one-bedroom flats close to the tram and the campus find tenants, with a turnover tied to the academic calendar. As with any student property, seasonal vacancy and upkeep have to be factored into the yield calculation. A precise valuation of the property remains the starting point of any decision.
The municipality is linked directly to the centre of Valenciennes and to its station by the tram, which crosses the Mont Houy plateau. That service brings Aulnoy closer to employment, shops and regional rail links, and makes homes close to the stops more sought after. The immediate proximity of Valenciennes, of which Aulnoy forms the southern suburb, shapes the whole market: many buyers think at the scale of the urban area rather than of the municipality alone.
On an older brick detached-house stock, the energy performance certificate and the condition of the roof and the joinery should be examined closely, as they weigh on negotiation and on the works to plan. For a rental investment close to the campus, check the exact floor area, the co-ownership rules and the service charges. Finally, the municipality has areas sensitive to rising groundwater linked to the Rhônelle and the damp soil: consulting the planning and risk documents is useful before any purchase.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).