The average price per m² in Orelle is 3 431 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 20 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Orelle, a village of the upper Maurienne linked by gondola to the 3 Vallées ski area, in Savoie.
The average price recorded in Orelle stands at 3 431 €/m². This average brings together very varied properties, from chalets and hamlet houses to apartments in the developments closest to the gondola towards Val Thorens. The gaps around this average come first from the type of property and its location: an old chalet at the bottom of the valley does not compare with a recent apartment a few minutes from the lifts. Floor area, the condition of the property, the presence of land and the altitude of the hamlet also weigh on the recorded price. The number of annual sales stays limited, which makes the average more sensitive to each transaction. These figures come from the DVF database, which lists the sales actually signed before notaries, and form a municipal benchmark to be refined according to the property and its precise area.
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 Orelle market rests on a particular position in the Maurienne: a rural mountain municipality that has become, since 1996, a direct access point to the 3 Vallées area thanks to its gondola towards Val Thorens. Demand is split between buyers looking for a second home in an area less sought after than the large neighbouring resorts, and working people or retirees attached to year-round life in the hamlets. The renewal of the cable link in 2021, with two new gondolas towards the Cime Caron, has strengthened the municipality's appeal for skiers seeking quick access to the area without the prices of the purpose-built resorts.
Supply remains constrained by the dispersal of buildings across eleven hamlets and by a relief that limits building zones between 819 metres and the foot of the Vanoise massif. Properties close to the Francoz gondola enjoy a premium tied to direct ski access, while the more distant hamlets, away from the tourist bustle, remain sought after for main residences at more measured prices. The former industrial activity at Prémont, halted in 1991, and the farming heritage of the hamlets weigh less on the market today than the proximity of the ski area, which has become the main engine of demand.
A village giving access to the 3 Vallées area, Orelle sits above Modane, on the valley floor, but below Valmeinier and Valloire, which are closer to the large ski resorts.
The name Orelle comes from the Latin Aurella, the estate of a man called Aurelius, an origin confirmed by the 1475 land register which repeatedly mentions the territory In territorio Orelle. The ecclesiastical forms Sainte-Orelle, recorded in the registers of the 17th and 19th centuries, long suggested a link with a Saint Aurelian, whose statue stands in the church of the main village, but who was never the true patron of the parish, dedicated to Saint Maurice. The territory bears traces of much older human occupation: engravings and prints recorded at the Plan-Bouchet site testify to an organised presence as early as the Palaeolithic and Neolithic. In Gaulish times, the valley was occupied by the Medulli people, before the Roman conquest attached the territory to the region administered from Susa, on the other side of the Alps.
The present church of the main village, dedicated to Saint Maurice, was rebuilt in 1430 after the previous building was destroyed by a rockfall in 1412, an episode that illustrates the village's long exposure to mountain hazards. The building preserves Baroque decoration characteristic of Maurienne parishes, complemented by several chapels scattered through the hamlets, marks of housing traditionally dispersed across eleven outlying settlements. In the 17th century, the parish saw the rise of the d'Albert family, ennobled in 1635, originally from the territory of Saint-Maurice d'Orelle. This web of hamlets and chapels is a reminder that the municipality never organised itself around a single centre, but around a constellation of small farming settlements clinging to the hillside, from Francoz to Bonvillard, a structure still legible today in the layout of the buildings.
Attached to Savoie and then to France at the annexation of 1860, Orelle opened up in the 19th century with the imperial road of 1812 and then the Maurienne valley railway in 1868. From 1893, the electrochemical works in the hamlet of Prémont lastingly transformed the local economy: generations of farmers became factory workers, producing chlorates and then, from 1910, the first duralumin made in France. The closure of the site in 1991 marked a turning point, offset by the shift to tourism begun in 1996 with the creation of a gondola linking the hamlet of Francoz to the Val Thorens and 3 Vallées ski area, renewed in 2021 by two new gondolas towards the Cime Caron. Served by a station on the Maurienne line, Orelle is today a high-mountain municipality where an old farming heritage sits alongside an economy geared to winter tourism.
Orelle has 324 inhabitants according to INSEE, a population down by a little over 7 % since 2017, like several municipalities of the upper Maurienne. The municipality's housing stock reflects its dual identity as a farming village and a gateway to the 3 Vallées: alongside the main residences occupied by families and working people of the valley, often in the valley-floor hamlets such as Francoz or the Chef-Lieu, a share of properties corresponds to leisure homes, chalets and apartments bought by mountain enthusiasts for occasional use. The immediate proximity of Val Thorens, reached in a few minutes by gondola, attracts both buyers looking for an affordable base in the 3 Vallées and working people wanting to live year-round in a mountain setting.
The average price recorded in Orelle stands at 3 431 €/m², based on sales registered with notaries and published in the DVF database. This average brings together very different properties, from the old hamlet chalet to the recent resort apartment. The type of property, floor area, condition, altitude and proximity to the gondola towards Val Thorens explain most of the gaps around this figure. It is better to compare sales of similar properties than to rely on the municipal average alone to value a specific property.
Orelle sits in the Maurienne, along the road that climbs the valley towards the Mont-Cenis pass and Italy, and has its own station on the Maurienne railway line. From the hamlet of Francoz, a gondola links the village directly to the Val Thorens and 3 Vallées ski area, an access renewed in 2021 by two new lifts towards the Cime Caron. This link makes it possible to ski without a car, stepping off the train or leaving the vehicle at the foot of the gondola. It sets Orelle apart from the other villages of the valley, which do not offer such direct access to the ski area.
Orelle covers nearly 70 km², between 819 metres of altitude on the valley floor and more than 3 400 metres at the Pointe du Bouchet, on the edge of the Vanoise massif and the Mont Thabor. Eleven hamlets, from Francoz to Bonvillard, dot a territory that has remained largely forested and agricultural, where the Saint-Maurice church of the main village, rebuilt in 1430, testifies to an old heritage. The proximity of Val Thorens brings the conveniences of a large resort without the dense development that goes with it on the valley floor. This setting suits those looking for an authentic mountain base, both rural and connected to the large ski area.
The Orelle market mixes two different logics. In the valley-floor hamlets, supply is dominated by older houses and chalets, often tied to the farming or residential use of families settled year-round. Near the gondola and the access points to the ski area, recent apartments and small chalets answer more to a leisure-home logic, bought for ski holidays. Your choice therefore depends as much on your budget as on the intended use, a main residence rooted in a hamlet or a mountain base turned towards the 3 Vallées.
The municipality is spread over eleven distinct hamlets, among which Francoz, the departure point of the gondola towards Val Thorens, holds a particular position because of its immediate proximity to the ski area. The Chef-Lieu, around the Saint-Maurice church, concentrates local shops and services. The other settlements, such as Orelette, Le Teppey or Les Provencières, keep a more rural and agricultural character, away from the tourist bustle. The choice of an area depends mainly on whether you want to be close to the lifts or, on the contrary, to favour the quiet of a traditional hamlet.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).