Nanterre is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine, west of Paris, right on the edge of the La Défense business district. With around 96 000 inhabitants, it is one of the largest towns in the inner suburbs. Long a market-gardening town, then a working-class and industrial one, it went through an urban history in the twentieth century marked by shanty towns, then by vast social housing and regeneration schemes. It is home today to the prefecture of the department, Paris Nanterre University and part of the La Défense development, which makes it at once a residential, administrative and economic town.
RER line A crosses the town with three stations, Nanterre-Ville, Nanterre-Université and Nanterre-Préfecture, putting central Paris a quarter of an hour away and La Défense a few minutes away. The network is growing denser still: line 15 of the Grand Paris Express plans two stations, Nanterre La Boule and Nanterre La Folie at Les Groues, by the 2030s. Paris La Défense Arena, the largest indoor venue in Europe, the Sainte-Geneviève cathedral, the pyramid-shaped town hall, the parc départemental André-Malraux and the banks of the Seine at the parc du Chemin-de-l'Île are among the town's landmarks.
That dual identity, residential and turned towards La Défense, shapes an active property market. Nanterre attracts working people and families looking for housing at a more measured price than Paris or the affluent towns of the west, without moving away from the La Défense employment hub. The gaps between districts remain contained: the changing areas close to the urban projects and to public transport hold the top of the market, while the working-class districts of the north offer the most accessible prices. Demand remains sustained, driven by employment in western Paris and by the continuing improvement of transport links.
