The average price per m² in Hussigny-Godbrange is 2 830 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 14 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Hussigny-Godbrange, at the northern tip of Meurthe-et-Moselle, right against the Luxembourg border.
The average price recorded in Hussigny-Godbrange stands at 2 830 €/m². This average covers a small market: DVF data, the French notarised sales database, lists only around fifteen transactions a year in the municipality, and the figure relies mainly on apartment sales. Yet the housing stock is overwhelmingly made up of houses: according to INSEE, the French statistics institute, the municipality has around 1 750 dwellings, nearly two thirds of which are detached houses, and just over 70 % of main residences are owner-occupied. The former miners' houses in the centre, the recent housing developments facing the border and the few small apartment buildings do not sell at the same level. The figures come from the DVF database, which lists the transactions actually registered with 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.
The Hussigny-Godbrange property market depends first on the Luxembourg economy, more than on local employment. Since the end of mining and steelmaking, it is the border that sustains demand: cross-border households, better paid than in France, keep constant pressure on a limited stock of houses. This base makes prices in the municipality higher than one would expect from a former mining village of the Pays-Haut, and more resilient to the ups and downs of the French economy. The very low share of second homes confirms that demand comes from households settling year-round.
Two factors will weigh on the coming years. On one side, anything affecting cross-border employment, the vitality of the Luxembourg economy, the taxation of cross-border workers, the conditions for crossing the border, quickly feeds through to local demand. On the other, the old housing stock inherited from the mining period requires energy renovation work, which has become a negotiating criterion, while building land for new housing developments remains limited on the plateau. The scarcity of houses for sale against sustained cross-border demand remains the dominant feature of the market.
A residential municipality geared towards employment in Luxembourg, Hussigny-Godbrange belongs to the Longwy basin, a few kilometres from the border. Its market compares mainly with those of the neighbouring municipalities of this basin, all shaped by the same cross-border demand, rather than with the rest of Meurthe-et-Moselle further south.
The municipality was born from the union of two villages of the Pays-Haut plateau, at the far northern tip of Meurthe-et-Moselle, right against the border of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Godbrange was attached to Hussigny by a decree of 20 February 1810, which formed the municipality of Hussigny-Godbrange as it is known today. Until the 19th century, these were two farming villages of the Pays-Haut, some ten kilometres from Longwy, whose history changed course with the discovery of iron ore beneath the plateau.
From 1874, mining concessions were granted to work the Lorraine minette, the iron ore lying close to the surface. The Hussigny iron mine operated for nearly a century, from the late 1870s until all activity stopped in 1978, and settled a working-class population housed in workers' estates and miners' houses. The closure of the mine, followed by the steel industry crisis that struck the whole Longwy basin, left a lasting mark on the municipality. The former galleries now house an iron mining museum, run by an association of former miners, which preserves the memory of that period.
Hussigny-Godbrange is today a residential municipality of the Longwy basin, geared towards cross-border employment. According to INSEE, it has around 1 750 dwellings, more than nine in ten of which are main residences and barely 0,5 % second homes: people live here year-round, not on holiday. The immediate proximity of Luxembourg is the main driver of the market. After the closure of the mine and the decline of the steel industry, the municipality regained inhabitants thanks to cross-border workers, drawn by Luxembourg salaries and by housing far more affordable than in the Grand Duchy. A large share of the working population crosses the border every day to work. Buyers are therefore mainly cross-border households and first-time buyers from the basin, looking for a house within reasonable distance of the crossing points into Luxembourg.
The average price recorded is 2 830 €/m², calculated from transactions registered with notaries and published in the DVF database. It should be read with caution: the municipality records only around fifteen sales a year, and this average relies mainly on apartments, whereas the housing stock is mostly made up of houses. The condition of the property, its floor area and its distance to the crossing points into Luxembourg explain a good part of the gaps from one property to another.
The municipality sits right against the border of the Grand Duchy, a few minutes from the Luxembourg employment areas. Salaries paid in Luxembourg, markedly higher than those on the French side, give cross-border households strong property purchasing power, which they spend on a French market that has remained more affordable than that of the Grand Duchy. This demand supports prices in Hussigny-Godbrange and across the Longwy basin, and makes them less dependent on the local economy than on the cross-border job market.
The market is first and foremost a house market. According to INSEE, nearly two thirds of the municipality's dwellings are detached houses: former miners' houses in the centre, and houses on more recent developments facing the border. Apartments are scarcer and concentrated in a few small apartment buildings. A buyer looking for a house has more choice, but on a market tightened by cross-border demand; for an apartment, points of comparison are few from one year to the next.
The municipality lies some ten kilometres from Longwy and a few minutes from the Luxembourg border. The road remains the dominant means of travel to the employment areas of the Grand Duchy, with the rush-hour congestion typical of the whole basin. The quality of road links to the crossing points, and the distance to park-and-ride facilities and cross-border bus lines, weigh directly on the appeal of an area and on prices.
The municipality was mined for its iron ore for nearly a century, and the subsoil still holds former galleries. Before buying, it is useful to consult the mining risk prevention plan and the hazard maps, which identify the areas exposed to ground movements linked to the former mines. As everywhere, an energy performance certificate is indispensable for a partly old housing stock, and the condition of the roof and insulation of a miner's house weighs in the negotiation.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).