The average price per m² in Gaillard is 3 606 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. For a house or villa, it is 4 760 €/m². About 178 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Gaillard, a municipality on the Geneva border in the Annemasse conurbation.
The average price recorded in Gaillard stands at 3 606 €/m². This average covers a stock made up overwhelmingly of apartments: according to INSEE, the French national statistics institute, apartments account for around 85 % of the homes against 15 % houses, in a fairly recent built fabric since close to three quarters of the buildings date from after 1970. Houses, rare in this dense area, trade at a higher price: the average recorded on houses and villas comes out at 4 760 €/m². The immediate closeness of Geneva, access to the cross-border tram and the energy performance of a home explain a good part of the differences. The figures come from the DVF database, which records transactions actually registered with notaries.
House : 4 760 €/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 Gaillard market rests first of all on its position as a municipality on the Geneva border. A few minutes from jobs in Geneva, the municipality captures continuous demand from cross-border workers and working households, which supports prices even though the stock is almost entirely made up of apartments occupied all year round. With only 6 % second homes according to INSEE, most transactions involve main residences, a more stable market than a tourist municipality but very sensitive to the interest-rate climate and to cross-border purchasing power.
New supply remains constrained by the small size of the municipality, four square kilometres already largely built up, which pushes housing production towards densification and new developments rather than sprawl. The transport infrastructure of Greater Geneva, the tram and the cross-border rail link via Annemasse, sustains residential appeal and concentrates value on the best-connected properties. In this stock, mainly of apartments and partly older, energy performance is becoming an ever clearer point of negotiation.
A border municipality joined to Annemasse, Gaillard sits at a level close to its immediate neighbour and to Thonon-les-Bains, but clearly below Annecy. The gap comes from the scarcity of available land and from the weight of cross-border demand on a stock consisting mainly of apartments.
The place owes its name to the fortified castle of Château-Gaillard, built around 1304 by the counts of Geneva to watch over the plain and the road up the Arve valley. The stronghold was dismantled in 1589 during the wars between Geneva and Savoy, and the territory passed to the duke of Savoy under the treaty of Lyon in 1601. Long attached to the neighbouring parish, the town was not made a municipality separate from Ambilly until 1843. Like the rest of the duchy, Gaillard became French in 1860 with the annexation of Savoy, ratified by plebiscite.
The municipality moved into the industrial and border era in the 20th century. From a village of a little over a thousand inhabitants at the end of the 19th century, Gaillard today passes 11 000 inhabitants according to INSEE. The river Arve crosses the territory and the Foron marks the border with Switzerland; three crossing points link the municipality to the canton of Geneva, including Moëllesulaz, the terminus of the Geneva tram line. Activity rests on a dense retail fabric, a pharmaceutical plant inherited from the former Roche-Nicolas site, and above all on the closeness of Geneva, whose airport is a quarter of an hour away. Part of the Annemasse conurbation and of the Greater Geneva area, Gaillard has become a residential municipality of the border ring.
According to INSEE, the French national statistics institute, Gaillard has 11 423 inhabitants for around 6 500 homes, of which close to 87 % are main residences and only 6 % second homes: this is a municipality lived in all year round, not a holiday one. Apartments account for close to 85 % of the stock, houses around 15 %. Among households in main residences, the share of owners is around 36 %, against close to 62 % tenants: renting dominates, driven by a working population that is often young and mobile. Buyers are drawn in good part from cross-border workers employed in Geneva, looking for a well-served apartment a few minutes from the border, and from households who can no longer find a home in the heart of Annemasse or on the Swiss side.
The average price recorded is 3 606 €/m², calculated from transactions registered with notaries and published in the DVF database. It is a municipality-wide average, which mixes the cross-border worker's studio with the large family apartment. The average recorded on houses and villas, which are far rarer, reaches 4 760 €/m². Closeness to the border, the floor, the aspect and the year of construction explain most of the differences. A serious valuation is based on comparable sales in the same area, not on the average alone.
Gaillard directly adjoins Geneva, about three kilometres from the centre, and is part of the Annemasse conurbation and of the Greater Geneva area. A large share of its residents are cross-border workers paid in Swiss francs, which supports demand for homes and price levels on the French side. The Geneva tram arrives at the Moëllesulaz crossing point and the cross-border commuter train serves nearby Annemasse: this access to jobs in Geneva is the leading driver of property values in the municipality.
No, supply is overwhelmingly in apartment buildings. According to INSEE, houses account for only around 15 % of the homes against close to 85 % apartments, on a territory of just four square kilometres that is heavily built up. Detached houses, often older or on small plots, are sought after and sell above the municipal average. The number of house sales is limited, which makes their valuation more dependent on condition, plot and location than on the average statistic.
The municipality is organised between the shopping town centre, close to the Moëllesulaz border crossing and the tram, and quieter residential districts towards the Arve and the higher ground on the Annemasse side. The built fabric is fairly recent, since close to three quarters of the buildings date from after 1970, with blocks from the 1970s to the 2000s and more contemporary new developments. The immediate closeness of the border and of the transport lines creates a premium for the homes best served towards Geneva.
As everywhere, the energy performance assessment shapes the value of an older apartment, a sensitive point in a stock largely built before recent thermal standards. Letting a furnished tourist property requires a declaration at the town hall, and the tax treatment of second homes is worth planning for in a municipality under strong border pressure. Finally, the status of cross-border worker carries tax implications of its own that are best settled with a professional before completing a purchase.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).