The average price per m² in Carnac is 6 156 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 85 transactions are recorded each year.
Ambience illustration of the Breton coast.
The average price in Carnac stands at 6 156 €/m², based on DVF sales actually registered before notaries. It is one of the highest levels on the Morbihan coast, driven by a market in which seven homes out of ten are not lived in all year round. The commune reads as two distinct markets: the old town inland, and Carnac-Plage, a seaside resort developed since the Belle Époque along the bay.
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.
After 5 489 €/m² in 2021, the average price in Carnac reaches 6 156 €/m² in 2026, roughly +12 % over the period.
The Carnac market rests on a structural imbalance between a stock of more than eight thousand six hundred dwellings and only 2 336 main residences. The demand that sets prices is therefore not local: it comes from outside households choosing between several communes on the Morbihan coast. That makes the market sensitive to national credit conditions, but little exposed to the commune's own demographics, which are slightly declining.
New supply is constrained on several fronts. The Coastal Act limits the spread of urbanisation, the 2016 coastal risk prevention plan frames building in the sectors exposed to flooding from the sea, and the exceptional density of archaeological sites, around a hundred and forty in the commune, adds a preventive excavation constraint on projects. This organised scarcity supports the level of values for the long term, around 6 156 €/m² in 2026.
Set in its surroundings, Carnac sits far above the neighbouring towns of Morbihan and Loire-Atlantique: a holiday coastline and the residential market of city centres do not compare at the same price level.
Carnac has been continuously occupied since the 5th millennium BC. The Saint-Michel tumulus, a hundred and twenty-five metres long and twelve high, has yielded objects in variscite brought from the Iberian peninsula. Between 4000 and 2000 BC, the inhabitants raised the alignments that make the site famous today: close to three thousand standing stones are recorded in the commune, spread between the groups of Le Ménec, Kermario, Kerlescan and Le Petit Ménec. The name itself, recorded in the form Karnag in 1387, refers to the heap of stones.
The modern commune was built in two stages. In 1839, Charles Armand de Keranflec'h acquired the marshes, stabilised the dunes and developed the oyster beds. In 1864, La Trinité-sur-Mer split off to become an independent commune. Then, in 1899, the creation of the Société Carnac-Plage launched the seaside resort: the tramway to Étel opened in 1901, the Grand Hôtel in 1903. The seawater spa opened in 1978 on former salt marshes, the casino in 2002.
On 12 July 2025, the megaliths of Carnac and the shores of Morbihan were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, a property covering more than five hundred and fifty monuments spread over some thirty communes. Two years earlier, the destruction of thirty-nine standing stones during building work had been a reminder of how fragile this heritage is and how sensitive building consents are in this area.
Carnac has 4 194 permanent inhabitants for a stock of more than eight thousand six hundred dwellings, of which 6 319 are second homes according to INSEE, the French national statistics institute. Buyers therefore come mostly from outside, looking for a holiday house or a pied-à-terre within walking distance of the beaches. The resident population is old: more than 43 % of inhabitants are 65 or over, which keeps a steady flow of properties coming back onto the market. The old town draws year-round buyers more, while the seaside frontage concentrates holiday demand.
The average price in Carnac is 6 156 €/m², calculated on DVF sales actually completed before notaries. It is a high level for Brittany, comparable to that of the most sought-after communes of the gulf of Morbihan.
Because demand is almost entirely external and supply is capped. Second homes account for around 72 % of the stock, the commune is protected by the Coastal Act and by a coastal risk prevention plan approved on 4 January 2016, which bans or conditions building in the areas exposed to flooding from the sea. More than a third of the population lives in an area concerned by that hazard.
No. The old town, inland around the Saint-Cornély church, and the seaside resort born at the end of the 19th century on the seafront form two distinct segments. Immediate closeness to the beaches, from the Grande Plage to Men Du, weighs heavily on value. The average price of 6 156 €/m² covers that gap.
The inscription of 12 July 2025 concerns the megalithic monuments and their surroundings. It adds to the existing planning rules rather than replacing them. The concrete effects on building consents depend on the perimeter adopted and on the commune's planning document: for a specific project, the town hall and the regional cultural affairs directorate are the bodies to consult.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).