The average price per m² in Cohennoz is 4 876 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 13 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Cohennoz, a mountain municipality in the Val d'Arly, in Savoie.
In Cohennoz, the benchmark price stands at 4 876 €/m² for an apartment. This level is that of a resort municipality, where value rests on access to the ski area and on the view rather than on living space alone. These figures come from the DVF data, that is, the transactions actually registered with notaries (DVF is the French record of notarised property sales), not from asking prices in listings. They give an order of magnitude: on a market this narrow, a handful of sales is enough to move the average, and the gap between a studio on the piste front and an old hamlet chalet is considerable.
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 Cohennoz market depends directly on demand for mountain second homes, which has strengthened since the start of the decade in mid-sized resorts offering a good balance between ski area and price level. Membership of the Espace Diamant is the municipality's structural asset: it gives access to a large ski area without bearing its prices. Transaction volumes remain very low, around ten apartment sales a year, which makes any reading of an annual trend fragile.
Over the longer term, the question of snow cover will weigh on property values according to altitude and to the ski area's ability to spread its activity across four seasons. Mid-altitude resorts are the most exposed to this issue. Energy performance will also play a growing role in a stock of developments from the 1970s and 1980s, where renovation work is often heavy and counts in the negotiation.
Cohennoz sits in the middle of its ski area: its prices pass just above those of Notre-Dame-de-Bellecombe and remain below Praz-sur-Arly and Hauteluce, closer to the large neighbouring ski areas.
Cohennoz clings to the slopes of the Val d'Arly, between the Arly valley and the col des Saisies, in a landscape of mountain pastures, forests and scattered hamlets. The municipality has never had a dense village centre: traditional housing here consists of isolated farms and chalets, set on well-oriented ridges, in a settlement pattern characteristic of the livestock valleys of northern Savoie. With a little over a hundred permanent residents, it remains one of the smallest municipalities in the department.
The turning point came with skiing. From the 1960s onwards, Cohennoz joined its neighbour Crest-Voland to develop a shared ski area, marketed today under the name Crest-Voland Cohennoz. This area is linked to the Espace Diamant, a group that also brings together Les Saisies, Notre-Dame-de-Bellecombe, Praz-sur-Arly and Flumet, and which offers a direct view over the Mont Blanc range in places. That integration moved the municipality from a farming economy to a tourism economy.
Cohennoz lives today to the rhythm of two seasons. In winter, the ski lifts and accommodation shape activity; in summer, the municipality returns to its mountain-pasture character, with hiking and mountain farming. Everyday services are found in Crest-Voland and Flumet, and Albertville, down in the valley, remains the reference town for shops and public services, some fifteen kilometres away.
According to INSEE (France's national statistics institute), Cohennoz has around 137 permanent residents. The market is overwhelmingly a second-home market: resort apartments bought for family use or for seasonal letting, and hamlet chalets sought after for their character and their aspect. Buyers come mainly from the region's large cities, from the Paris area and from neighbouring countries. A small share of the market involves permanent residents or seasonal workers, but the price level and the narrowness of supply make this above all a wealth and tourism market.
The benchmark price in Cohennoz stands at 4 876 €/m² for an apartment. This figure comes from the DVF data, the sales actually signed before notaries. On a market this small, it is an indicative average: an older studio in a development and a recent apartment with a view and ski-in ski-out access depart very clearly from that base.
The areas close to the lifts of the Crest-Voland Cohennoz ski area concentrate most of the demand, because direct access to the slopes is the leading value criterion on a resort market. Well-oriented high-altitude hamlets, with open views over the ranges, are sought after for chalets. Properties far from the lifts and poorly oriented trade noticeably below.
The municipality is served by the Val d'Arly roads, passable all year with the proper winter equipment. Albertville, some fifteen kilometres away in the valley, offers the railway station and services, and gives access to the motorway towards Chambéry and Lyon. The mountain setting nevertheless means journey times that vary with conditions and season.
Seasonal letting is the dominant use on this type of market, with a winter season that concentrates most of the income and more modest summer visitor numbers. Yield depends closely on proximity to the lifts, on the standard of the property and on how many people it sleeps. The building's rules of co-ownership and the local rules applying to furnished letting should be checked before any project.
The mountain setting means strict planning rules, with protection of natural and pastoral land and requirements on the appearance of buildings. Natural hazards, avalanches, ground movement and run-off, are covered by prevention documents to consult before purchase. The service charges of a resort development and maintenance costs in a mountain climate also deserve close examination, as does the property's energy performance.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).