The average price per m² in Montalieu-Vercieu is 1 758 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 14 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Montalieu-Vercieu, on the banks of the Rhône at the foot of the Isle-Crémieu plateau, in Isère.
The average price recorded in Montalieu-Vercieu stands at 1 758 €/m². This average covers a housing stock dominated by houses: according to INSEE, the French statistics institute, around 65 % of the municipality's dwellings are houses, against 34 % apartments. Main residences make up more than 86 % of the stock and second homes only 4 %, which describes a municipality of permanent residents rather than a holiday destination. The old centre of Montalieu, the suburban housing estates on the outskirts and the houses close to the Rhône or the Isle-Crémieu plateau do not sell at the same level. The figures come from DVF data, the French notarised sales database, which lists the transactions actually registered with notaries; in a municipality of this size, the market remains narrow, at around fifteen sales a year.
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 local market depends more on the economy of the area than on holiday tourism. Montalieu-Vercieu lives from its quarries, its cement works and jobs in north Isère, and the 4 % of second homes recorded by INSEE confirm that demand comes from households settled year-round. This base of residents makes the market relatively stable, but also narrow: with around fifteen sales a year, averages move quickly from one year to the next and are best read over several years rather than a single one.
Two factors will weigh over the coming years. On one side, the municipality benefits from the overflow of households who can no longer buy in the Lyon conurbation and are looking for a more affordable house, which supports demand for family homes. On the other, part of the stock is old and energy renovation is becoming a negotiating point, especially on village houses. The scarcity of building land and the constraints linked to the Rhône and the plateau also limit new supply.
A quarrying municipality rather than a service centre, Montalieu-Vercieu sits below the more urban towns of north Isère. The gap is clear with Morestel, the canton seat, and Pont-de-Chéruy, closer to the Lyon conurbation; it is more moderate with La Tour-du-Pin.
The present municipality was born from the union, at the end of the 18th century, of the villages of Montalieu and Vercieu, on the left bank of the Rhône. Its history is first of all one of stone. The hard limestone of the area, known as pierre de Villebois or choin de Villebois, has been quarried since Gallo-Roman times, and its extraction took off at the end of the 17th century, with projects such as the Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon. Carried by the river, this stone was used to build quays, bridges and buildings in Lyon and far beyond. River transport, very active in the 19th century, long supported the villages along the Rhône before rail and road took over.
The quarrying basin was joined very early by the cement industry. The work of Louis Vicat, in the early 19th century, led to artificial cement, and a cement works of the Vicat group is still in operation in the area. The municipality now belongs to the Les Balcons du Dauphiné inter-municipal authority and keeps this dual identity of industrial village and gateway to the Isle-Crémieu plateau, among lakes and ponds. On the former quarry lakes, the Vallée Bleue leisure park, laid out on the banks of the Rhône and crossed by the ViaRhôna cycle route, has become the main local tourist attraction.
According to INSEE, Montalieu-Vercieu has around 3 510 inhabitants. The stock is dominated by the detached house, which accounts for nearly 65 % of dwellings, and home ownership is the majority: around 56 % of households own their main residence, against 42 % tenants. Second homes represent only 4 % of the stock, a sign of a municipality of permanent residents. Buyers are mainly households from the local area: first-time buyers, employees of the quarries and cement works still in operation, workers from the employment zones of north Isère and the Rhône valley, and households looking for a house at a more affordable price than in the Lyon conurbation, about thirty kilometres away.
The average price recorded is 1 758 €/m², calculated from the transactions registered by notaries and published in DVF data, the French notarised sales database. It is a municipal average that combines very different properties: an old house in the village centre, a recent house on a housing estate and an apartment do not belong to the same segment. In a municipality of this size, the number of sales is limited, around fifteen a year, so a single atypical transaction can weigh on the average for a given year.
The centre of Montalieu concentrates the old village houses and most of the shops. The outskirts have expanded with suburban housing estates, generally the properties most sought after by families. Houses close to the Rhône or set on the heights of the Isle-Crémieu plateau offer distinctive locations, greener but sometimes further from services. The condition of the property, the size of the plot and the presence of a garage explain a good part of the price gaps.
The market is first and foremost one of detached houses. According to INSEE, houses account for nearly 65 % of the municipality's dwellings, against around 34 % apartments. The supply of apartments is therefore limited and concentrated in the village centre and a few small buildings. A buyer looking for an apartment will have less choice and fewer points of comparison, whereas the deeper house market ranges from the estate house to the old building to renovate.
Demand comes overwhelmingly from households living there year-round. The municipality remains a local employment centre, with its quarries, its cement works and its network of stone businesses, and it benefits from its position in north Isère, about thirty kilometres from the Lyon conurbation. Buyers working towards Lyon or Bourgoin-Jallieu look for a house there at a more moderate price, which sustains demand without creating strong pressure.
The municipality borders the Rhône: areas close to the river may be exposed to flood risk, and the plan de prévention des risques, the local risk prevention plan, should be consulted before any purchase. The historical presence of quarries justifies checking the nature of the subsoil and any easements on the plot in question. Finally, in a stock with many old houses, the diagnostic de performance énergétique, the energy performance certificate, deserves attention, as it now weighs on value and on letting conditions.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).