The average price per m² in Pertuis is 2 934 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 107 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Pertuis, gateway to the Luberon, in the Vaucluse.
The average apartment price in Pertuis stands at 2 934 €/m², based on DVF transactions actually registered before notaries (DVF is the French record of notarised property sales). The municipality, the most populated in the south of the Vaucluse, combines a dense old centre around the church of Saint-Nicolas with wide residential areas spread across the plain, between the Durance and the foot of the Luberon. Apartments are concentrated in the historic core and in the developments built since the 1970s, while houses dominate the outlying districts and the more recent estates. Floor area, the condition of the property, the aspect and closeness to the shops and the station explain most of the gaps from one sale to another. That municipal average therefore covers varied situations, from a small apartment in the centre to a recent dwelling on the edge. The figures come from the DVF database, which records sales signed before notaries: they give a municipal benchmark, to be refined property by property.
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 Pertuis market is read first through its closeness to Aix-en-Provence. The town plays the role of an affordable residential municipality for working people of the Aix area and the research centres of the lower Durance, who find there prices far below those of the neighbouring metropolis while staying some twenty kilometres away. That spillover demand supports a market made up both of apartments in the centre and the developments, and of houses in the estates of the plain. The population, close to twenty thousand inhabitants, sustains year-round life that sets Pertuis apart from the purely touristic villages of the Luberon.
On the supply side, the municipality still has buildable land in the farming plain, which has allowed sustained residential spread and continues to feed the market for new houses. That land reserve contains price pressure, unlike the more constrained municipalities of the Aix basin. The energy performance of dwellings is becoming a bargaining point, particularly for the older fabric of the centre and the developments of the 1970s and 1980s. For a seller, the condition of the property, its energy rating and its distance from the station and the roads towards Aix now count as much as its floor area.
Pertuis sits far below Aix-en-Provence, on the other side of the Durance, and remains more affordable than Vitrolles while standing above Salon-de-Provence. Its market is judged above all against the neighbouring Aix basin.
The name Pertuis comes from the Latin pertusium, a passage or a gap, referring to the natural opening that connects the Durance valley and the Pays d'Aigues. Long regarded as the capital of that Pays d'Aigues, the town keeps some clearly visible landmarks of its medieval past: the clock tower, the former keep of the feudal castle turned into a municipal belfry, and the Saint-Jacques tower, a remnant of the old ramparts that ringed the town. These elements recall the role of stronghold held by Pertuis between the county of Provence and the lands of the Durance.
The church of Saint-Nicolas is the main monument of the municipality. It became the parish church at the end of the fourteenth century, in 1398, when the former church of Saint-Pierre threatened to collapse. Enlarged and reworked in the following centuries, it belongs to Provençal flamboyant Gothic architecture: its vaulted chancel was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1535, and another quake in 1909 further damaged its vaults. The building has been listed as a historic monument since 1911. Its outline, without a great bell tower, marks the historic centre of the town.
A farming town turned towards the vine, fruit and market gardening of the Durance valley, Pertuis changed scale from the 1960s and 1970s. Its position some twenty kilometres from Aix-en-Provence, on the boundary between the Vaucluse and the Bouches-du-Rhône, made it a residential municipality for working people of the Aix basin and the nearby research centres of the lower Durance. Served by the Durance valley railway line and close to the A51 motorway, the town saw its population climb to nearly twenty thousand inhabitants, while keeping its Friday Provençal market and its vineyards under the Luberon appellation.
Pertuis has 19 548 inhabitants, which makes it the leading municipality in the south of the Vaucluse. The housing stock combines an old centre of apartment blocks, developments built since the 1970s and vast areas of detached houses won from the farming plain. Main residences clearly dominate, second homes remaining marginal for a municipality of the Provençal interior. Buyers are mainly working people employed in Aix-en-Provence and in the employment basin of the lower Durance, along with first-time buyer families looking for more affordable prices than in the Aix area. To these are added households already settled locally wishing to buy a house with land, more accessible here than in the neighbouring municipalities of the Bouches-du-Rhône.
The average apartment price in Pertuis is 2 934 €/m², based on DVF transactions actually completed before notaries. It is a municipal average, mixing the small apartment of the old centre and the recent dwelling in a development. The floor level, the condition of the property, the presence of outdoor space, the aspect and closeness to the station and the shops explain most of the gaps. A reliable valuation rests on comparable sales, not on the town average alone.
The municipality sets a dense old centre, organised around the church of Saint-Nicolas and the clock tower, against wide residential districts spread across the plain, towards the Durance and at the foot of the Luberon. The centre concentrates older apartments and the shops, while the recent estates mainly host houses. Properties close to the station and to the roads towards Aix-en-Provence are sought after by commuters. These different housing logics do not sell at the same level.
Pertuis lies some twenty kilometres from Aix-en-Provence, on the other side of the Durance. The link is mostly made by car, by road and then the nearby A51 motorway, with heavy traffic at peak hours. The municipality is also served by the Durance valley railway line, which connects Aix and Marseille towards the north of the department. That closeness to the Aix basin is one of the main drivers of the local property market.
The choice depends on the area and the budget. The old centre and the developments mainly offer apartments, whose average price comes out at 2 934 €/m². Houses are concentrated in the estates and the outlying districts of the plain, with plots still accessible compared with the neighbouring municipalities of the Bouches-du-Rhône. The price of a house depends heavily on its condition, its living area, its plot and its location, rather than on the municipal average alone.
Pertuis combines a Provençal setting, between the Luberon massif and the Durance valley, with a strategic position at the gates of the Aix area. The town has all the shops, a well-known Provençal market, schools and a station, which makes it a municipality alive year-round and not only a holiday place. Its prices remain clearly below those of Aix-en-Provence, which attracts working people and families of the employment basin. It is that balance between quality of life and affordability that shapes local demand.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).