The average price per m² in Erquy is 4 258 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 23 transactions are recorded each year.
Mood illustration of Erquy, a seaside resort in the north of the Côtes-d'Armor.
On the Erquy market, the average price stands at around 4 258 €/m² for an apartment. That average reflects a coastal stock heavily oriented towards second homes, where properties close to the harbour, the beaches and the cape trade higher than those of the farming hinterland. Seasonal demand supports values, notably on small floor areas with a sea view. This figure comes from the DVF database, which records the transactions actually registered before notaries, and not from listings. It gives a benchmark, to be adjusted according to the location, the condition and the view of each property.
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 Erquy market is driven above all by its seaside function. The resort attracts second-home buyers from Rennes, Paris or the rest of Brittany, sensitive to the quality of the beaches, to the preservation of the cape and to the reputation of the fishing harbour. That seasonal demand keeps pressure on the best-placed properties, in particular small floor areas and dwellings with a sea view. The resident population, a little under 4 000 inhabitants according to INSEE, remains stable, with a large share of households settled year-round and of retirees.
On the supply side, the listing of the cape since 1978 and the coastal planning constraints limit the scope for new building, which keeps land close to the sea scarce. The local economy rests on fishing, notably the scallops landed from the bay of Saint-Brieuc, and on tourism, two activities strongly marked by the season. For a buyer, that means a market where location comes first, where seafront properties are becoming rarer and where the price gaps between the seafront and the hinterland remain clear.
Erquy sits at the top of the local coastal market, below a highly sought-after resort such as Saint-Cast-le-Guildo, but clearly above more inland municipalities such as Lamballe-Armor and Saint-Brieuc.
Erquy occupies a site frequented since antiquity. The point and the cape keep traces of early occupation, and a road came down from the Gallo-Roman hinterland towards the coast. The old name of the place has been linked to a harbour on the northern face of Armorica. In the Middle Ages the working of pink sandstone began in the quarries of the cape, a stone that was used to build many regional buildings and that still marks the cliff landscape. This resource, extracted for centuries, explains the indented shape of the coast and the memory of hard labour attached to the municipality.
The harbour saw sustained coastal trading from the 15th century to the 17th century, regularly disrupted by the wars between France and England. To protect the entrance, a battery of two cannon was set up in the early 18th century on the pointe des Trois-Pierres. Inland, the château de Bienassis, whose original manor goes back to the 12th century and which was rebuilt around 1434, testifies to the seigneurial presence. Its name, drawn from the expression bien sis, refers to a position well protected by its moats. These elements sketch a municipality turned both towards the sea and towards a rural hinterland.
The contemporary turning point for Erquy lies in fishing. After the discovery of clam beds in the early 1950s, then of scallops in the bay of Saint-Brieuc in 1962, the harbour became one of the leading ports of the seaboard for that shellfish, to the point of being associated with the scallop. In parallel, the cape has been listed since 1978 over around 170 hectares for its natural character, which has limited building along the coast. The municipality has grown around its beaches and its village centre, with a strong component of holiday homes that shapes its property market today.
Erquy has 3 974 inhabitants according to INSEE, the French national statistics institute. The striking feature of the housing stock is the place of second homes: according to INSEE, they account for more than half of the dwellings of the municipality, against around 40 % main residences. That structure shapes buyers. On one side are households settling in year-round, often retirees or families attached to the region, and on the other buyers of second homes coming from Rennes, the Paris region or elsewhere in Brittany. The house remains the dominant format of the stock, but the apartments close to the harbour and the beaches attract a clientele looking for a pied-à-terre that is easy to maintain.
In Erquy, the average price is around 4 258 €/m² for an apartment, according to DVF data drawn from the sales registered before notaries. That level places the municipality among the sought-after coastal markets of the Côtes-d'Armor. The real price of a property depends heavily on its closeness to the harbour, the beaches and the cape, as well as on the view and the general condition. The Immover online valuation gives you a figure to start from.
Properties close to the harbour, the village centre and the large beaches, such as the Caroual sector or the surroundings of the cape, concentrate demand. Immediate closeness to the sea and an open view weigh heavily in prices. Moving inland, towards the hamlets and the more agricultural areas, values fall. That difference between seafront and hinterland is one of the main price gaps within the municipality.
Yes, strongly. According to INSEE, more than half of the dwellings of the municipality are second homes. That holiday demand supports prices, in particular on small floor areas and properties with a sea view, easier to occupy or to let in summer. Very touristic municipalities may also apply a surcharge on the residence tax for second homes, a point to check with the town hall before buying a pied-à-terre.
Both markets coexist. The detached house with a garden dominates the stock and attracts families as well as second-home buyers. The apartment, rarer, is concentrated close to the harbour and the beaches, and appeals for a pied-à-terre that is easy to manage and to let. The average price per square metre quoted here relates to apartments. For a house, the reasoning is done more on the property as a whole than per square metre, according to the plot and the location.
Erquy sits on the northern coast of the Côtes-d'Armor, east of the bay of Saint-Brieuc. The municipality has no station: rail links go through Lamballe, then continue by road. Saint-Brieuc, the prefecture town and main employment centre of the sector, is about twenty minutes away by car. That relative distance from the major roads preserves the seaside character of Erquy, but means relying on the car day to day.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).