The average price per m² in Rousset is 3 990 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 26 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Rousset, a wine-growing and industrial village at the foot of the Sainte-Victoire mountain, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department.
The average price of apartments in Rousset stands at 3 990 €/m², based on the transactions actually registered with notaries in the DVF database, the French record of notarised property sales. That average covers a contrasted housing stock: homes in the old village backed against the slopes of the Cengle plateau, detached-house developments built near the industrial estate, and more recent properties looking out over the vineyards. Floor area, floor level, the presence of outdoor space, a south-facing position on the flank of the Sainte-Victoire mountain and the distance to the centre make values vary widely. As the municipality remains a rural village with limited and tightly held land, well-placed properties trade at the top of the range.
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 Rousset market is driven by its employment area. The industrial estate, one of France's microelectronics hubs built around STMicroelectronics, brings together close to 7 000 jobs and keeps a working population looking for housing on site. The proximity of Aix-en-Provence, sixteen kilometres away by the A8 motorway, extends that demand to households working in the Aix area. The setting of the Sainte-Victoire mountain, the AOC vineyards and the Provençal character of the village add a residential appeal that goes beyond the mere need to live close to work.
Several factors limit supply and support prices. Rousset remains a rural village whose building land is scarce, partly included in the perimeter of the Grand Site Sainte-Victoire, which frames development. The low vacancy rate reflects genuine pressure on a market where resales dominate. The population has risen markedly since the late 2010s, a sign of an attractive municipality. Conversely, the absence of a railway station and the reliance on the car to reach Aix or Marseille temper the rise and keep levels below those of central Aix-en-Provence.
Rousset sits above its neighbour Gardanne, further west in the Arc valley, and above Auriol, to the south. The municipality remains clearly below Aix-en-Provence, the upper benchmark of the area, some twenty kilometres away.
The name Rousset derives from the Latin Rossetum, a reference to the red colour of the marls that tint the local soil. The first written mention of the municipality appears in 1050 in the cartulary of the Saint-Victor abbey in Marseille, after the estate had been given to that abbey by Geoffroi, viscount of Marseille. During the war of the Union of Aix that followed the death of Queen Jeanne, the lord of Rousset sided in 1382 with Marie de Blois and hired Breton mercenaries. They seized the castle in 1385, before the troops of the Union of Aix besieged and took it in 1386.
The village's past can be read in its heritage. The Saint-Privat chapel, recorded as early as 1079, preserves a Romanesque structure from the twelfth century. The church of the Immaculée-Conception, built in the nineteenth century, has a tall façade framed by two bell towers. A Roman milestone, the Pierre d'Antonin found in 1889 and dated to the year 146, marked a distance of seven Roman miles from Aquae Sextiae, the ancient Aix. Around the village, vines have long held an important place: some 560 hectares produce wines classified as AOC Côtes de Provence, Côtes de Provence Sainte-Victoire and Palette, worked by around 250 growers.
The shape of today's municipality owes much to its industrial rise. The Rousset industrial estate, created in 1961, covers around 210 hectares and brings together more than one hundred and thirty companies for some 7 000 jobs. It is one of France's microelectronics hubs, with STMicroelectronics as its cornerstone, and has opened up to photovoltaics and other activities. This employment area, set against the vineyards and the Sainte-Victoire mountain, has turned Rousset from a farming village into an active residential municipality, whose population has risen sharply over the past decades to pass five thousand inhabitants today.
Rousset has 5 425 inhabitants. According to INSEE, the French statistics institute, the municipality is above all lived in year-round: main residences make up the bulk of the stock and second homes around 8 %. The housing stock is mostly made up of detached houses, with slightly more than half houses against close to 45 % apartments, and owner-occupiers account for around 55 % of households. Buyers are chiefly families and working households settling for the long term, some of them employed in the local industrial estate and its microelectronics companies or in the Aix-en-Provence employment area, sixteen kilometres away. The setting of the Sainte-Victoire mountain and the vineyards attracts households looking for a Provençal environment close to work.
The average price of apartments in Rousset is 3 990 €/m², based on the transactions actually completed before notaries and published in the DVF database. That average covers gaps linked to floor area, floor level, a south-facing position on the flank of the Sainte-Victoire, the presence of outdoor space, the condition of the property and its distance to the centre. An older home in the village and a recent build on the edge of the vineyards do not trade at the same level.
Rousset combines an old centre backed against the Cengle plateau, detached-house developments close to the industrial estate and residential areas looking out over the vineyards and the Sainte-Victoire mountain. The view, the aspect, the presence of a garden or a swimming pool and how quiet the area is all weigh on values. Recent properties with outdoor space and well-placed houses sit at the top of the range, while apartments in denser settings remain more affordable.
Rousset lies around sixteen kilometres east of Aix-en-Provence and forty-six from Marseille. The municipality is crossed by the route nationale 7 and bordered by the A8 motorway, with a junction close by. Two bus routes serve it, towards Aix and Trets on one side, towards Marseille and Trets on the other. It has no railway station: commuting is mostly done by car, made easier by the proximity of the A8.
The choice depends on budget and use. The benchmark price of 3 990 €/m² relates to apartments, found in the village and in a few residential blocks. The stock nonetheless remains dominated by detached housing: more than half of dwellings are houses, according to INSEE. With their floor area and their outdoor space, these generally trade above the level of apartments, all the more so as building land in a tightly held rural village is limited.
Partly. The industrial estate and its microelectronics hub, with close to 7 000 jobs, anchor local housing demand and support a market lived in year-round rather than geared to second homes. The proximity of Aix-en-Provence and the setting of the Sainte-Victoire broaden that demand. This twofold appeal, employment and quality of life, keeps transactions regular in a stock constrained by the scarcity of land.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).