The average price per m² in Megève is 10 217 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. For a house or villa, it is 16 728 €/m². About 161 transactions are recorded each year.
Mood illustration of Megève, a resort in the Arly valley in Haute-Savoie, facing the Mont-Blanc.
The average price recorded in Megève stands at 10 217 €/m². It is one of the highest levels in the French Alps, driven by a prestige market where second homes dominate: according to INSEE (France's national statistics institute), nearly 77 % of the municipality's dwellings are not occupied year-round. The average mainly reflects resort apartments, which account for around 75 % of the stock. Individual houses, which are rarer, pull the market upwards: the average price recorded for houses and villas reaches 16 728 €/m², a gap of around 64 % with the apartment, one of the widest observed across our municipalities. It reflects the weight of high-standing chalets sought by an international clientele. The figures come from the DVF database (the French notarised sales register), which records the transactions actually registered with notaries.
House / villa : 16 728 €/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 Megève market is a prestige market, closer to that of the major international resorts than to a classic residential market. Demand is driven by second-home buyers, French and foreign, in a stock where nearly 77 % of dwellings are not occupied year-round according to INSEE. This clientele looks for location, the view over the Mont-Blanc and the quality of the finish more than floor area alone, which durably supports prices and widens the gaps between a standard apartment and an exceptional chalet.
New supply remains constrained. The loi Montagne and the scarcity of land in an already dense village limit construction, and activity concentrates on the renovation and resale of existing properties, where energy performance and standing weigh more and more in negotiations. Uncertainty over snow cover at mid-altitude is also pushing the resort to develop its summer activities and its wellness offer, which reinforces the appeal of the village beyond the ski season alone and, with it, the value of the best-located properties.
Megève plays in the category of the prestige resorts of the Alps. Its price sits at the level of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (9 956 €/m²) and clearly above the valley municipalities like Saint-Gervais-les-Bains (5 336 €/m²) or Sallanches (3 704 €/m²), which are more affordable.
Megève began as a mid-mountain farming village in the Arly valley. Its medieval development was tied to the land clearing led by the monks of the Talloires abbey, and the economy long remained focused on livestock, mountain pasture and subsistence farming, away from the main routes. The bulbous bell tower of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church and the old farmhouses still bear witness to this rural past, before high-altitude tourism changed the nature of the town in the 20th century.
The turning point is dated and documented. In 1920, Baroness Noémie de Rothschild, wife of Maurice de Rothschild, was looking for a French alternative to Saint-Moritz, then in Switzerland, and spotted the potential of Megève facing the Mont-Blanc. As early as 1921, a luxury hotel opened on the heights of the Mont d'Arbois and launched the resort. There the architect Henry Jacques Le Même invented a form of chalet inspired by the local farmhouses but adapted to holiday living, which would set the standard across the Alps. Megève thus became one of the first French winter sports resorts designed for a well-off clientele.
Over the course of the century, the resort organised its ski area around three sectors, Rochebrune, the Mont d'Arbois and the Jaillet, now connected to the Évasion Mont-Blanc network shared with Saint-Gervais and Combloux. The village, at around 1 100 metres of altitude, keeps a pedestrian centre and the character of a Savoyard town, which set it apart from the high-altitude resorts built from scratch in the 1960s. This image of a high-end village resort remains the foundation of its property market.
According to INSEE, Megève has 2 893 inhabitants for around 9 191 dwellings, of which only 18 % are main residences: second homes and occasional dwellings account for nearly 77 %, one of the highest shares among Alpine municipalities. Apartments make up around 75 % of the dwellings, houses 25 %. Among the households settled year-round in a main residence, 62,5 % are owners. Two worlds therefore coexist on the same territory. On one side a small permanent population, working in tourism, hospitality, services and mountain crafts. On the other a clientele of second-home buyers, French and international, often wealthy, who come looking for a high-standing apartment or a chalet, and who explain the level and the resilience of prices.
The average price recorded is 10 217 €/m², calculated from the transactions registered with notaries and published in the DVF database. It is a municipal average, which blends the resort apartment and the prestige chalet. The average price recorded for houses and villas reaches 16 728 €/m², a gap of around 64 % that weighs heavily on any valuation. Location, the view over the Mont-Blanc, access to the ski lifts and the quality of the finish explain most of the differences. A serious valuation is based on comparable sales, not on the average.
The gap comes from the scarcity and the positioning of individual houses. Houses represent only around 25 % of the dwellings, against 75 % of apartments, and part of the chalet market targets an international prestige clientele ready to pay for land, a view and high-end finishings. This segment pulls the average for houses and villas towards 16 728 €/m², clearly above the apartment. For a chalet, the valuation depends more on location, the view and the level of finish than on the municipal average.
The area is organised around three massifs, Rochebrune, the Mont d'Arbois and the Jaillet, each with its chalet neighbourhoods. The Mont d'Arbois, birthplace of the resort launched by the Rothschild family, concentrates part of the most sought-after property. The village centre, at around 1 100 metres, brings together the shops, the church and year-round activity, with a housing mix of resort buildings and former farmhouses. The more distant hamlets and hillsides offer more scattered properties. These location logics are not valued at the same level.
Megève lies in the Arly valley, about thirty minutes from Sallanches and the Autoroute Blanche, and around an hour from Annecy or from Geneva and its international airport. The municipality has no railway station: the nearest station is at Sallanches or Saint-Gervais, on the Mont-Blanc line. The car remains central for reaching the resort, which gives value to the garage and to parking, a point to consider in the valuation of a property.
The municipality falls under the loi Montagne (the French mountain planning law), which regulates urban development, extensions and the appearance of buildings, with strong attention paid to the Savoyard style. Natural mountain hazards are recorded across the territory and can be consulted at the town hall. Given the weight of second homes, the taxation applying to this status is worth anticipating, as are the local rules on renting out furnished tourist accommodation, which is subject to declaration at the town hall.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).