The average price per m² in Colombelles is 2 817 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 28 transactions are recorded each year.
Mood illustration of Colombelles, the former company town of the Société métallurgique de Normandie, in the Calvados.
The average price for apartments in Colombelles stands at 2 817 €/m², based on the DVF database, which records sales actually registered before notaries. A former working-class town of the Société métallurgique de Normandie, north-east of Caen, the municipality keeps a stock marked by the Plateau estates and by social housing inherited from its steelmaking past, completed by recent developments built on the former works site. The value of a property there depends on the sector, on the age of the dwelling, on its renovation, on its type and on the links towards Caen and Hérouville-Saint-Clair.
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 Colombelles market is carried by its redevelopment and by the closeness of Caen. The population rose by almost 5 % between 2017 and 2023 according to INSEE, a sign of a municipality that attracts again after the trauma of the closure of the SMN. The EffiScience campus, which gathers about a hundred technology companies on the former industrial plateau, has created a local employment centre, while the new developments built on the works site have renewed the housing supply and diversified the profile of residents.
The strength of Colombelles lies in prices more affordable than those of Caen and Hérouville-Saint-Clair, in a direct link to the conurbation and in a recent supply born of urban renewal. The limit lies in an image still marked by the steelmaking past and in a stock that is partly old or social, which weighs on some sectors. Demand remains above all local, carried by households looking for an affordable home in the immediate vicinity of Caen and its services.
Colombelles sits above Hérouville-Saint-Clair but remains more affordable than Caen, and clearly below the coastal municipalities such as Ouistreham.
Colombelles is an old village, recorded as early as 1082 in a cartulary. Its name comes from the Latin columbulus, the pigeon, and is thought to point to a place where doves were reared. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the municipality remained rural and thinly populated: it had 278 inhabitants in 1793, a peak of 364 inhabitants in 1846, then fell back to 153 inhabitants in 1901. From that past there remain the church of Saint-Martin, of the 11th and 12th centuries, whose walls carry maritime graffiti bearing witness to river traffic on the Orne, along with the tower of the former chateau, the only remnant of a building destroyed by the bombing of July 1944.
Everything changed in 1909, when the German industrialist August Thyssen bought land along the Orne and the canal from Caen to the sea. The steelworks was set up from 1913 and took the name Société métallurgique de Normandie in 1924. Colombelles then went from 178 inhabitants in 1914 to 2 301 in 1921, then 3 452 in 1939: the rural village became a cosmopolitan working-class town. The works employed about 4 000 people in 1936, was bombed in 1944 then rebuilt in 1952. At its height, in the early 1970s, the SMN produced more than a million tonnes of steel a year and passed 6 000 employees.
The closure of the last blast furnace, on 5 November 1993, marked the end of the steelmaking adventure. From 1997, the urban community of Caen created the ZAC du Plateau, a planned development zone, on the 57 hectares of the former site and entrusted its recovery to a developer: the EffiScience technology campus today hosts about a hundred companies. La Grande Halle, a former electrical workshop, has been converted into a community venue, and the great cooling tower, more than 50 metres high, remains the visible landmark of the working-class past. Since 2006, new districts such as Jean-Jaurès and Le Libéra have appeared on the site of the dismantled works.
Colombelles has 7 243 inhabitants according to INSEE, the French national statistics institute. The market is turned towards main residences, which make up almost all of the housing stock, with only 25 second homes. The municipality keeps the mark of its working-class history: according to INSEE, 35,4 % of households own their home, the majority being tenants, in particular in the social housing inherited from the Plateau estates. Detached houses make up 56,5 % of the stock, the rest being apartments. Buyers are above all local households and first-time buyers, drawn by prices more affordable than in neighbouring Caen and by the immediate closeness of the conurbation and its jobs.
The average price for apartments in Colombelles is 2 817 €/m², based on the DVF sales registered before notaries. That level remains more affordable than in neighbouring Caen. It varies with the sector, the age and condition of the dwelling, its type and the presence of outdoor space or parking. Renovated properties close to the services and to the links towards Caen sit at the top of the range.
The municipality sets several atmospheres side by side: the old town centre around the church of Saint-Martin, the workers' estates inherited from the SMN such as the cité du Plateau, and the recent districts built since 2006 on the former works site, such as Jean-Jaurès and Le Libéra. The plateau itself mainly hosts the EffiScience business campus. Each sector has its own type of building, which explains marked price gaps within the municipality.
Yes. Colombelles borders Hérouville-Saint-Clair and lies about six kilometres north-east of Caen, whose conurbation it belongs to. The municipality is served by the bus network of the Caen conurbation and linked to the city centre by the roads running along the Orne and the canal. That immediate closeness to Caen and its employment area is one of the main drivers of local housing demand.
The two markets sit side by side. Detached houses make up 56,5 % of the stock according to INSEE, often low-rise houses or company houses, while apartments are concentrated in the blocks of the Plateau estates and in the recent developments. The average price shown of 2 817 €/m² covers apartments. The choice depends on your budget, on the search for outdoor space and on the sector you are aiming at within the municipality.
The average price of 2 817 €/m² gives a benchmark, but the real value depends on the sector, on the condition of the dwelling, on its renovation and on its outbuildings, which vary greatly from one district to another in Colombelles. Immover draws on the sales actually registered before notaries in the DVF database to offer you a free valuation suited to your property, taking account of local market specifics.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).