The average price per m² in Cranves-Sales is 4 278 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 22 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Cranves-Sales, a municipality of the Haute-Savoie Genevois backing onto the Voirons range, at the gates of Annemasse and the Swiss border.
The average price recorded in Cranves-Sales stands at 4 278 €/m². This average brings together a stock split between a majority of detached houses and a growing share of apartments, driven by the recent developments built near the village centre. The gaps around this average come mainly from the type of property, its floor area, its general condition, the presence of a plot and the proximity of the Swiss border and of the centre of Annemasse. The most sought-after areas, close to the routes into Geneva, show firmer prices than the hamlets set on the heights of the Voirons range. These figures come from the DVF database (the French record of notarised property sales), which lists the sales actually signed before notaries, and give a municipal benchmark to refine property by property according to your plans.
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 Cranves-Sales market is shaped by its position at the gates of the Geneva employment area. Demand comes in large part from cross-border workers employed in Geneva or in the neighbouring canton, who find, on the French side, prices well below those charged in Switzerland. This cross-border pressure, described by INSEE as a driver of the housing market in the districts bordering Geneva, translates into sustained demand for houses as well as for recent apartments. The municipality's population growth, above 14 % between 2017 and 2023, illustrates this continuing appeal.
Supply remains constrained by the geography of the municipality, split between the built-up areas close to Annemasse and the slopes of the Voirons range, less suited to construction. Buyers weigh up the immediate proximity of the border, dearer and denser, against the more distant areas, where prices remain more affordable. The scarcity of available land and the constant pressure of cross-border demand keep prices high compared with the department average, while leaving Cranves-Sales in an intermediate position against municipalities that are closer still to the border.
At the gates of Annemasse and of the Geneva area, Cranves-Sales sits above its closest neighbours, Ville-la-Grand, Annemasse and Vétraz-Monthoux.
Cranves-Sales owes its name to the merger, in 1801, of two formerly separate municipalities, Cranves and Sales, whose parishes would only merge in 1803. Cranves is thought to come from the Celtic or Ligurian Cranava or Cranavis, formed from « caran », the oak, and « ava », water, that is, the « torrent of the oaks ». Sales takes its name from the Germanic sala, denoting an inhabited place or an estate without fortification. Cranves is mentioned in a deed dating back to the year one thousand, when the bishop of Grenoble ceded land to the count of Geneva, and Sales appears in a deed of the dauphin Hugues, lord of Faucigny, in 1317. A dolmen discovered in 1864 attests to far older occupation of the site. In 1339, the delphinal survey mentions the jurisdiction of lord François de Lucinges over this Faucigny territory.
The built heritage of Cranves-Sales keeps the trace of that past. The church of Cranves, placed under the protection of Our Lady in 1541, was dedicated to Saint John the Baptist in 1606 and renovated in 2007. The municipality also preserves the sign of a former small castle, the Châtelard, the memory of a vanished seigneurial residence. More surprisingly, in Roman times Cranves was the starting point of two aqueducts eleven kilometres long, which supplied water to the city of Geneva. The two parishes of Cranves and Sales, temporarily united between 1604 and 1618, only merged for good in 1803, two years after the civil merger of the municipalities in 1801. The hamlet of Rosses and the northern part of the hamlet of Cabouet, long attached to Vétraz-Monthoux, only joined Cranves-Sales in 1868, by imperial decree.
Cranves-Sales belonged for a time to the province of Carouge, under the administration of the States of Savoy, between 1780 and 1837, before its attachment to France, contested locally by a petition in 1860. Long a farming and wine-growing municipality, it went through the phylloxera crisis from 1890, which put an end to part of its vineyard. Set on the western slope of the Voirons range, in the foothills of the Alps, the municipality today covers 13,6 km², between 439 and 1 440 metres of altitude. At the gates of Annemasse and a few kilometres from the Swiss border and Geneva, Cranves-Sales has turned into a residential municipality of the Haute-Savoie Genevois, driven by the rise of cross-border work since the end of the 20th century.
Cranves-Sales has 7 762 inhabitants according to INSEE (France's national statistics institute), a population that has grown markedly for several years. The housing stock is still dominated by detached houses, around two thirds of the total, with a share of apartments that nonetheless reaches about a third, driven by the more recent developments built on the edge of the centre. Main residences account for the large majority of the stock, about nine dwellings in ten, the share of second homes remaining marginal. A little more than seven households in ten occupying their main residence own it. This profile attracts first and foremost workers employed in Geneva or in the neighbouring canton, looking for housing at a more affordable cost than on the Swiss side of the border, along with families looking for a house with a garden immediately next to Annemasse.
The average price recorded in Cranves-Sales stands at 4 278 €/m², based on the sales registered with notaries and published in the DVF database. This figure brings together varied properties, houses as well as apartments. The type of property, its floor area, its condition, its plot and its location explain most of the gaps around this average. For a reliable valuation, it is better to rely on sales of comparable properties than on the municipal average alone.
Cranves-Sales has no railway station on its territory, but lies a few kilometres from Annemasse station, linked to Geneva by the Léman Express. The municipality also benefits from the proximity of the A40 motorway and of the routes leading to the Swiss border, used daily by many cross-border workers employed in the canton of Geneva. This position, at the gates of the Geneva employment area, weighs directly on the tightness of the local property market. Journey times to the border remain a decisive criterion for a large share of the municipality's buyers.
Set on the western slope of the Voirons range, in the foothills of the Alps, Cranves-Sales keeps a partly rural setting despite its immediate proximity to Annemasse and the residential growth of recent decades. The municipality long lived off farming and wine growing, before population growth linked to cross-border work changed its face. Its altitude, between 439 and 1 440 metres, offers viewpoints over the Alps from the heights of the territory. This setting suits households looking for a compromise between mid-mountain nature and quick access to the Geneva employment area.
The Cranves-Sales market is still dominated by detached houses, which account for about two thirds of the housing stock, but the share of apartments, at around a third, is growing with the recent developments built near the centre. Buying a house matches the municipality's dominant profile, with wider access to a plot and outdoor space. Apartments suit more measured budgets and cross-border workers looking for quick access to Geneva. Your choice will depend above all on your budget and on the distance you are willing to travel to the border.
Cranves-Sales is organised around its village centre and several hamlets inherited from its history, such as Rosses and Cabouet, attached to the municipality in 1868. The areas close to Annemasse concentrate a growing share of recent flats, while the heights of the Voirons range keep more scattered housing and a more rural setting. Proximity to the Swiss border remains a decisive criterion for many buyers, to be weighed against the relative quiet of the areas furthest from the centre. Each area has its own building and environmental characteristics, to be examined according to your plans.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).