The average price per m² in Ault is 2 800 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 34 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Ault, on the cliffs of the Picardy coast, in the Somme.
The average apartment price in Ault stands at 2 800 €/m², based on DVF transactions actually registered before notaries (DVF is the French record of notarised property sales). Houses come out slightly below, at 2 511 €/m² from the same source, the reverse of most rural municipalities and a sign of the weight of sea-view apartments in this seaside market. The best-placed dwellings, on the cliffs and on the seafront at Onival, pull values up. The stock mixes resort villas, town houses and small blocks close to the coast. The aspect, the view and the distance to the beach make the value of a property vary widely. The market is marked by a high share of second homes.
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 Ault market is that of a small seaside resort, marked by a high share of second homes and demand turned towards the sea view. The weight of seafront apartments explains an average price for flats above that of houses, an unusual configuration for a municipality of this size. Turnover depends heavily on second-home buyers, more inclined to sell and buy than year-round owner-occupiers.
Several drivers sustain these levels. The scarcity of buildable land by the sea, constrained by cliff erosion, the search for a view over the Channel and the closeness of tourist hubs such as Le Tréport or the bay of the Somme support the prices of the best-placed properties. Conversely, coastal risk and the distance from the large conurbations limit demand for the most exposed dwellings. The market therefore remains highly segmented by location and view.
Ault sits at a level close to its immediate neighbours Le Tréport and Mers-les-Bains, and clearly below the large resorts of the Côte d'Opale further north. The most telling comparison is with the coastal municipalities of the southern Somme and the Normandy boundary.
Ault is a small seaside resort of the Picardy coast, set at the foot and the top of the chalk cliffs that mark the end of the Vimeu plateau and the boundary with neighbouring Normandy. From the end of the nineteenth century, the fishing town gained a holiday resort alongside it, with the arrival of the railway and the fashion for sea bathing.
The hamlet of Onival, to the south, was laid out in the same period as a seaside extension, with its villas, its sea wall and its descent to the shingle beach. A little further south again, the Bois de Cise forms a wooded valley running down to the sea, laid out with villas scattered under the trees in the Belle Époque, a singular atmosphere the municipality has kept.
The resort saw summer visitors from Paris and the north of France, then the hazards of cliff erosion, which regularly eats into the shoreline and constrains development along the seafront. Between Le Tréport to the south and the bay of the Somme to the north, Ault remains a seaside municipality with a residential and tourist character. It today has 1 346 inhabitants.
Ault has 1 346 inhabitants, a figure that swells sharply in season under the effect of second homes, very present in this resort of the Picardy coast. The housing stock mixes holiday villas, fishermen's town houses and small blocks close to the seafront, between the centre of Ault, the hamlet of Onival and the Bois de Cise. Buyers are in good part second-home purchasers from the Paris region and the north of France, looking for a seaside base, alongside an older permanent population. The scarcity of buildable land, constrained by cliff erosion, and the search for a sea view support the prices of the best-placed properties.
The average apartment price in Ault is 2 800 €/m², based on DVF transactions actually completed before notaries. Houses come out slightly below, at 2 511 €/m² from the same source. That reversal compared with classic rural municipalities is explained by the weight of sea-view apartments, which pull the average of the apartment segment up.
In this seaside resort, part of the apartment stock stands on the seafront and on the cliffs, with a view over the Channel, which makes those properties sought after as second homes. That premium on the sea view pushes the average apartment price above that of houses, more scattered across the town centre and the Bois de Cise. The aspect and the immediate closeness of the coast make the difference.
The municipality brings together the town of Ault, backing onto the cliffs, the seaside hamlet of Onival to the south, with its sea wall and its descent to the beach, and the Bois de Cise, a wooded valley laid out with scattered villas in the Belle Époque. These three areas offer distinct atmospheres, from the urban seafront of Onival to the more discreet and wooded setting of the Bois de Cise, which is reflected in prices.
The chalk cliffs of Ault and Onival retreat regularly under the effect of marine erosion, which sharply constrains development along the seafront and the buildable land closest to the edge. That sustained scarcity supports the value of well-placed existing properties, while coastal risk weighs on the most exposed dwellings. It is a factor to examine carefully before any purchase plan.
Ault lies at the southern end of the Somme, a few kilometres from Le Tréport and Mers-les-Bains to the south, on the boundary with the Seine-Maritime, and some thirty kilometres from the bay of the Somme to the north. That position between two tourist hubs of the coast, Le Tréport-Mers and the bay, feeds second-home demand turned towards the Picardy coast.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).