The average price per m² in Saint-Macaire is 1 983 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 12 transactions are recorded each year.
Mood illustration of Saint-Macaire, in the Gironde, a medieval town on the right bank of the Garonne facing Langon.
The average price recorded in Saint-Macaire stands at 1 983 €/m². That average rests on a narrow market, some fifteen recent sales for about a dozen transactions a year, and covers very different properties. According to INSEE, the French national statistics institute, about two thirds of the dwellings in the municipality are houses and one third apartments, in a stock that is mainly old since more than half the dwellings date from before 1971. The stone houses of the medieval town, subject to heritage constraints, the housing of the outer streets and the few recent properties do not sell at the same level. The figures come from the DVF database, which lists the transactions actually registered before notaries.
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 Saint-Macaire market depends first of all on the appeal of the Langon area rather than on tourist stays. The municipality is a town of permanent residents, backing onto a neighbouring hub of jobs and services, which gives steady demand but a limited volume of sales, about a dozen transactions a year. That small number makes averages sensitive to a few deals and calls for the figures to be read with care, relying on the precise features of the property rather than on the municipal average alone.
Two factors will bear on the coming years. On the one hand, an older stock, of which more than half the dwellings date from before 1971, makes energy renovation a growing bargaining point, in particular on the stone houses of the centre that are hard to insulate. On the other, the heritage setting of the medieval town, its listing and the immediate closeness of Langon keep up stable demand, including for restoration projects. The scarcity of building land in a town constrained by heritage protections limits new supply and concentrates the market on older properties.
A municipality of the southern Gironde turned towards the Langon area rather than towards the Bordeaux conurbation, Saint-Macaire sits at a level close to that of its immediate neighbour Langon. The gap is much wider with the municipalities on the outskirts of Bordeaux such as Villenave-d'Ornon and Cadaujac, carried by the closeness of the metropolitan area.
Saint-Macaire holds a lookout position on the right bank of the Garonne, facing Langon, some fifty kilometres south-east of Bordeaux and on the edge of the Entre-deux-Mers. The town owes its medieval fortune to the river and to the wine trade: the privilege granted in the thirteenth century allowed it to sell its wines before those of the hinterland, and the peak came in the fourteenth century, when its ties with England earned it in 1341 the title of royal town of England. From that period survives a remarkably well preserved medieval whole: the walled town and its ramparts, the Benauge gate known as the clock gate, the place du Mercadiou lined with arcaded houses of the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, and the church of Saint-Sauveur, a former Benedictine priory set against the wall.
In the early modern period, the Garonne gradually moved away from the ramparts and the port was shifted in 1658 from one end of the fortified wall to the other. The rise of trade in the eighteenth century turned the town towards Bordeaux, and crafts, among them barrel-making, prospered there until the interwar years. That built heritage today earns Saint-Macaire its listing as a remarkable heritage site and its reputation as a town of character of the southern Gironde. Around the town, the gravelly and clayey slopes carry the Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire appellation, recognised in 1937 and devoted to white wines, among them sweet ones, over a small area that rings the town.
According to INSEE, Saint-Macaire has about 1 981 inhabitants and a little under 1 100 dwellings, of which close to 970 are main residences. The stock is first of all low-rise: houses account for close to two thirds of dwellings and apartments one third. The municipality is split in almost equal parts between owners and tenants, and social housing accounts for a small share of main residences. Buyers are mainly households from the Langon area: first-time buyers, working people in the services and retail trade of the southern Gironde, families looking for a town house or a base in a heritage setting. A minority of buyers is drawn by the appeal of the medieval town and of the vineyard, for a second home or a restoration project.
The average price recorded is 1 983 €/m², calculated from the transactions registered by notaries and published in the DVF database. It is a municipal average, established on a small number of sales, which pools varied situations: a stone house of the medieval town, a dwelling in the outer streets and a recent property do not belong to the same segment. The condition of the property, the floor area, the presence of outdoor space and the level of renovation explain a good share of the gaps.
Yes. The historic heart, within the walled enclosure around the place du Mercadiou and the church of Saint-Sauveur, forms a market of its own, narrow, made of old stone houses often subject to heritage constraints. The outer streets and the more recent sectors, on the edge of the town and towards the vineyard slopes, offer more houses with gardens and more plots. The small number of sales each year makes comparison points rare, which makes a valuation all the more useful.
Supply is clearly geared towards houses. According to INSEE, houses account for close to two thirds of the dwellings in the municipality, against one third apartments. Apartments are concentrated above all in the older blocks of the centre, sometimes created by the division of historic buildings. For a house with outdoor space, the choice is wider but search times remain tied to the small volume of properties put up for sale each year.
Directly. Saint-Macaire adjoins Langon, a sub-prefecture and a hub of services, jobs and shops of the southern Gironde, only a few minutes away. Langon station links to Bordeaux, and the A62 motorway runs nearby. That accessibility supports demand from households who work in the Langon area or commute to the Bordeaux conurbation while looking for a quieter setting rich in heritage.
The municipality is listed as a remarkable heritage site: within the perimeter of the medieval town and around the monuments, work on façades, roofs and joinery is subject to the opinion of the state architect for historic buildings. The sectors close to the Garonne can be exposed to flood risk, to be checked in the risk prevention plan. Lastly, on a stock largely predating 1971, the energy performance certificate and the condition of the building are points to examine before any purchase.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).