The average price per m² in Évian-les-Bains is 4 747 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 181 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Évian-les-Bains, on the southern shore of Lake Geneva.
The average price recorded in Évian-les-Bains stands at 4 747 €/m². That average covers a stock overwhelmingly made of apartment blocks, where flats account for close to three quarters of the dwellings according to INSEE, the French national statistics office. The gap remains clear between the older buildings of the town-centre streets, the developments of the 1960s and 1970s set on the slopes, and the more recent schemes opening onto Lake Geneva, which pull the average up. The slope of the site, between the shore and the heights, sharply limits available land. These figures come from the DVF database, which records transactions actually registered before notaries.
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.
Demographics remain on a rising path: the municipal population grew by nearly 2 % between 2017 and 2023 according to INSEE. The main driver is Swiss employment. Lausanne lies about thirty minutes away by boat and the Compagnie générale de navigation operates a daily route between the two shores, strengthened by a hybrid 600-seat vessel designed for cross-border workers. Every improvement in that service widens the pool of buyers able to work in the canton of Vaud while living in the French Chablais.
The second driver is tourism and spa activity. Second homes account for 22,5 % of dwellings according to INSEE, a high share that supports demand for properties with a view and slows the turnover of the stock. The spa establishments, the hotel heritage from the early twentieth century and the events hosted in the municipality sustain a footfall spread across the year. Conversely, new supply remains curbed by the relief and coastal protection: the market therefore rests mainly on existing stock and on small-scale schemes.
Évian-les-Bains sits clearly above the urban hubs of the Chablais and the French Genevois, Thonon-les-Bains and Annemasse. It remains, on the other hand, behind the high-altitude ski resorts of the massif, such as Les Gets.
The name Évian comes from the late Latin aquianu, which designates a place where there is water. The reputation of the spring goes back to 1789: the marquis de Lessert, suffering from kidney stones, drank the water of the Sainte-Catherine fountain, on the land of Monsieur Cachat, and put his recovery down to that water. Commercial use followed quickly. In 1826, the Genevan François Fauconnet founded the first mineral water company and had a thermal establishment built; the Cachat spring was acquired on 16 March 1827. The Société anonyme des eaux minérales d'Évian was created on 9 December 1859, a year before the annexation of Savoy by France.
The municipality officially took the name Évian-les-Bains by decree of 28 January 1865. The following half century drew the town you walk through today. The architect Jean-Albert Hébrard designed the Cachat pump room, completed in 1903 and regarded as the most representative example of Art nouveau in Évian, then the Hôtel Royal, opened in 1907 on the slope. In the same year, an electric funicular came into service to link the lakeside to the hotels and the spring. That terraced organisation, spa and hotel facilities above, harbour and quays below, still shapes the urban fabric and explains the narrowness of the centre.
Évian has several times served as a diplomatic setting. In July 1938, the Évian conference brought together some thirty international delegations on the question of refugees fleeing the Reich, without leading to any concrete commitment. On 18 March 1962 the Évian accords were signed there, ending the Algerian war. The town also hosted the G8 summit from 1 to 3 June 2003. In parallel, the bottling of the mineral water has been industrialised on the scale of the basin, in the neighbouring municipality of Publier. Spa activity, lake tourism and cross-border employment now form the three pillars of the local economy.
Évian-les-Bains has 9 267 inhabitants. According to INSEE, the municipality counts 4 814 dwellings, of which 67,5 % are main residences and 22,5 % second homes: the market therefore mixes resident buyers and holiday buyers. The stock is largely made of apartments, 74,7 % against 22,1 % houses. Renting dominates occupation, 56,4 % of main residences being occupied by tenants against 38 % by owners, which explains the significant share of properties bought to be let. Buyers split between working people of the Chablais, employees working in neighbouring Switzerland, retirees drawn by the lake and second-home owners from Geneva, Lyon or Paris.
The average sale price stands at 4 747 €/m² in Évian-les-Bains. That amount is calculated on the transactions recorded in the DVF database, fed by notarial deeds, and not on listings. It is a municipal average: an older studio without a view and a recent apartment facing Lake Geneva change hands at very distant levels. For a specific property, only a valuation taking account of the address, the floor and the aspect is reliable.
The lakefront and the surroundings of the harbour concentrate the most expensive properties, for the view over Lake Geneva and direct access to the quays. The old centre, around the rue Nationale, offers more compact apartments but very well placed for the shops. The heights, above the centre and towards La Grande Rive, offer larger floor areas and parking, with a significant slope to climb every day.
Évian-les-Bains faces Lausanne, on the other shore of Lake Geneva. The lake link is operated by the Compagnie générale de navigation, whose N1 route connects the two towns in about thirty minutes. A hybrid vessel named Évian-les-Bains, with 600 seats, has strengthened that service for cross-border workers. By road, you have to go round the lake via Geneva or Saint-Gingolph. That dependence on the boat weighs on the choice of area to buy in.
The stock is largely made of apartments: INSEE records 74,7 % flats against 22,1 % houses. The supply of detached houses is therefore scarce within the municipal boundary and concentrated on the heights. Some buyers looking for a house with land turn to the neighbouring municipalities, Publier, Neuvecelle or Maxilly-sur-Léman. In Évian itself, the discussion turns more on the floor, the view and the presence of a parking space.
Two constraints add up. The loi Littoral, the French coastal planning act, applies to the shores of Lake Geneva and strictly regulates development in the strip close to the water. The relief does the rest: the municipality rises from 372 to 772 metres in altitude on a narrow corridor between the lake and the slopes, which leaves little usable land. That scarcity explains the firmness of prices on the lakefront and the premium on open views.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).