The average price per m² in Fontaine is 1 961 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. For a house or villa, it is 3 547 €/m². About 227 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Fontaine, between the Drac and the foothills of the Vercors.
In Fontaine, the average price stands at 1 961 €/m² for an apartment. This average covers a stock that is very largely made up of flats, shaped by the blocks built in the 1960s and 1970s on the urbanised strip wedged between the Drac and the cliff of the Vercors. The gaps come above all from the period of construction, the floor level, the presence of a lift and the distance from the five stations of tram line A. Houses, far less numerous, come out at around 3 547 €/m². These values come from the DVF database, the French record of notarised sales, which lists the transactions actually registered with notaries.
House : 3 547 €/m²
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 Fontaine market is carried by its position in the Grenoble metropolitan area. Three kilometres from the centre of Grenoble and directly linked by tram line A, the municipality captures demand from households looking for an affordable floor area without leaving the conurbation. The stock, very largely made up of flats and inherited from the urbanisation of the 1960s and 1970s, offers family dwellings at price levels below those of the heart of Grenoble. Metropolitan employment, backed by the Grenoble scientific and university hub, and the local business areas of les Vouillants, les Plans and l'Argentière sustain that demand steadily.
The second driver is the urban transformation under way. The works of the Portes du Vercors eco-district, launched in 2023 on the La Poya area jointly with Sassenage, plan around 950 dwellings, more than 13 000 m² of retail space, a multiplex cinema and services, on a timetable spread over about ten years. This scheme introduces new-build supply in a municipality where it was rare, and gradually shifts the centre of gravity of the town northwards. In the longer term, the proposed cable link between the banks of the Drac remains a factor to follow.
Fontaine sits in the lower part of the price range of the Grenoble conurbation, below Grenoble and Saint-Martin-d'Hères, and at a level close to that of Échirolles.
Fontaine owes its name to a spring at the edge of the Bois des Vouillants, known locally as the fontaine à cent francs. The municipality holds a particular position in the Alpine corridor: backing onto the foothills of the Vercors, it stretches over 6,74 km² west of the Drac, the main tributary of the Isère, facing Grenoble. Crossing that river long governed its fate. A first bridge over the Drac was opened in 1826, linking the village at last to the neighbouring city. In 1863, Fontaine lost the part of its territory lying on the right bank of the Drac, attached to Grenoble. The pont du Vercors was delivered in 1889, and a first tram line served the municipality from 1895.
The 20th century brought a run of ordeals and rebuildings. The bridge over the Drac was replaced by an arched structure in 1938, sabotaged by the German army in 1944, then partly carried away by a flood in 1954. The pont du Vercors was itself rebuilt in 1950. The decisive change came next: between the 1960s and the 1970s, Fontaine moved from a municipality of modest villas and rural houses to a dense town, with the building of slab blocks of six to twelve storeys that accompanied the industrial and demographic rise of the conurbation. Three business areas then shaped the local economy: les Vouillants, les Plans and l'Argentière.
The end of the century set the municipality back within the metropolitan network. The pont Esclangon was built in 1986. The following year, tram line A was brought into service in sections between August and December 1987, marking the return of that mode of transport to the conurbation after thirty-five years of absence. It serves Fontaine through five stations, including the terminus of La Poya. This structure explains the town of today: a dense, well-served eastern half and a wooded western half around the Bois des Vouillants. Since 2023, the La Poya area has hosted the works of the Portes du Vercors eco-district, carried out with Sassenage, which plans around 950 dwellings over a decade. With 22 020 inhabitants for 6,74 km², Fontaine is among the most densely populated municipalities of the Grenoble metropolitan area.
The Fontaine market is first of all a market of apartments. According to INSEE, the French statistics institute, the municipality has around 11 800 dwellings, of which close to 91 % are main residences and only 1 % second homes: people buy here to live, not to spend the holidays. Apartments account for more than 82 % of the stock, a proportion that directly reflects the urbanisation of the 1960s and 1970s. The split between owner-occupiers and tenants is almost balanced, with a significant share of social rented housing. Buyers are mostly households of the Grenoble conurbation, first-time buyers or families looking for an affordable floor area a few minutes from Grenoble by tram.
The average price recorded in Fontaine is 1 961 €/m² for an apartment, and around 3 547 €/m² for a house. These figures come from the DVF database, which lists the sales actually registered with notaries. They express a municipal average: an older studio without a lift and a recent dwelling close to the tram can depart from it widely. A valuation that takes account of the address, the floor level and the condition of the property remains essential.
Demand is concentrated around tram line A, between the pont du Drac and La Poya, from where the centre of Grenoble is a few minutes away. The areas backing onto the Bois des Vouillants and the foothills of the Vercors attract buyers looking for a house or a quiet dwelling with a view. The large estates of the 1960s and the 1970s offer, conversely, the most affordable floor areas of the municipality.
Yes. Tram line A, in service since 1987, crosses the municipality through five stations and links Grenoble and then Le Pont-de-Claix. Three bridges cross the Drac towards Grenoble: the pont du Drac, the pont du Vercors and the pont Esclangon, built in 1986. The A480 ring road runs alongside the municipality and gives access to the A48 towards Lyon and the A49 towards Valence. This accessibility is one of the main drivers of the local market.
The choice is in practice constrained by supply. According to INSEE, apartments account for more than 82 % of the dwellings of the municipality, against around 15 % of houses. The houses, often modest villas predating the urbanisation of the 1960s, are concentrated on the heights and in the suburban areas. They sell at a price per m² markedly above that of apartments, with timescales that reflect their scarcity.
The Portes du Vercors eco-district, under way since 2023 on the La Poya area with the neighbouring municipality of Sassenage, plans in the order of 950 dwellings along with shops and leisure facilities, staged over a decade. The first completions introduce new-build supply in a municipality where the stock is very largely older. That creates a second market segment, distinct from the resale market, whose prices do not compare directly with the municipal average.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).